The Million Dollar Bet
by xenophileCorvid
Summary: An anonymous someone has given the guardians and a few others a bet. They accept it, and are all stuck in the same house together for two weeks. Rimahiko and some Amuto and Kutau
1. The Bet

**I would be REALLY surprised if someone else hasn't done a fanfic like this before. This idea is really not very creative, but it's really fun. And I've never found another fic like it, so I'm going to write one, and hope that no one gets mad.**

**Note: I will probably only focus on a few characters at a time, or it's going to get to hectic. So just remember that the others are there, too. They're just having their own conversations… or whatever.**

**Disclaimer: Have you ever SEEN someone on that owned something? **

The Million Dollar Bet

_I bet one million dollars to split between you that you guys can't all stay in the same house together for two weeks without something disastrous happening. These are the rules: Hinamori Amu, Hotori Tadase, Mashiro Rima, Fujisaki Nagihiko, Yuiki Yaya, Souma Kukai, Tsukiyomi Ikuto, and Hoshina Utau, along with all their charas, will be placed in a house together for two weeks. No one can go past the yard, or you lose. Everyone is allowed to bring one suitcase full of their belongings, and nothing else. Food and such will be supplied._

_If you are able to complete this, one million dollars is to be divided between you with no questions asked. If you fail, you will have to come up with one million dollars to pay me._

_If you wish to accept this challenge, be at the park on Sunday and 3:00 PM with your one suitcase of belongings each. If you must, bring your parents for security or whatever, but they are not allowed to stay with you._

_~Anonymous_

Most people would be wondering, _who the heck would take up a deal like that, especially from an anonymous challenger?_ Well, this is my fanfiction, so I can make the characters do whatever I want them to. Somehow, those who were very enthused about the whole thing managed to persuade those that weren't. The parents, to everyone's surprise, didn't seem to have any objections. So that is why all of those listed above were waiting in the park on that Sunday afternoon, each with a suitcase.

"This is crazy," Rima muttered for the umpteenth time. It had taken a lot to even get her here, and she still was not very happy about the whole situation. Two weeks? That was ridiculous!

"125000 dollars each!" one of the charas said.

"This is going to fun!" Yaya exclaimed.

"Yaya-chan, you think it's gonna be fun?" Amu asked, "I would think you would hate being away from your parents for two whole weeks."

"Yaya doesn't mind that much!"

There was an excited and nervous feel in the air, as the group waited for someone or something to show up. After a while, two long, black limousines appeared and pulled up against the sidewalk. Two men in black tuxedos and fedoras stepped out of the cars. They were wearing dark sunglasses, and black gloves. Overall, they looked very suspicious and government-like. One of the men began taking their suitcases and putting them in one of the vehicles. The other man opened the door to the other one and gestured for everyone to get in.

"Wow!" Yaya exclaimed, "Yaya's never been in limo before!" Soon they were moving, going towards wherever it was. Throughout the whole group, one question was circling: who sent the challenge?

"It had to be someone with a lot of money," Amu said logically.

"Who would want to pay us a million dollars just to stay in a house for two weeks?" Nagi asked, bringing up a good point.

"Maybe they're secretly filming us for a movie!" exclaimed Yaya.

"It _is_ a possibility," said Tadase. He got an odd expression on his face, and began muttering something about a perfect start to ruling the world. A lot of the ride was spent pondering who the mysterious challenger could be, and guessing where they were going. They traveled for several hours, and a good amount of making jokes at each other's expense, quarreling, and poking went on during that time.

Finally, they slowed as they went through a wrought-iron gate and everyone looked around to see that they were somewhere with lots of trees and a giant 18th century style house standing in a large, open area of grass. A swing was hanging from one of the trees, and a stream ran through the yard, with a pretty little bridge that crossed over it.

They parked, and everyone got out. Their things were dumped beside them, and then the limousines drove away without a word from the suspicious-looking men. Everyone picked up their own suitcase and walked to the door. They had to climb up several steps to a large, elaborate porch, on which sat a porch-swing, and a table with chairs around it.

The whole place was amazing. Everyone was even more awed when they opened the door and found beautiful furnishings, shiny hardwood floor, and overall a very fancy house. Everyone set their things down in the living room, which had a huge fireplace with a large, flat screen TV, and several very comfortable couches.

"Looks to me like someone wants to just give a vacation and a million dollars," Ikuto said, laying across one of the couches.

"Let's see what's in the kitchen to eat," Nagihiko suggested. Everyone but Ikuto followed him in. The kitchen itself was a wonder. It was large enough that everyone could move about freely without bumping into each other too much. Amu opened a gigantic refrigerator to find enough food to feed an army. The pantry was the size of her bedroom, and it held twice as much food as the refrigerator.

"It's time for dinner," she stated, "Who wants to cook?" No one answered.

"I'll help," Nagi said.

"Anyone else?" Still no answer. "Alright, then all of you can help." So they set to work making dinner, and by the time they had finished eating it, it was nearly 8:00.

"Let's find the bedrooms," Yaya said, yawning. "We should put all our stuff in them." Turns out that there were two bedrooms with four queen-sized, four-poster beds in each.

"Looks like they set this whole thing up just for us," Rima said.

"Okay," said Utau, "I like this bedroom better, so all of us girls will get this one, and the boys can have the other." And that settled it. This was the start of their two-week "vacation" to earn a million dollars.

**If you want me to continue this, please review. 'Cause right now, I'm not so sure if I want to finish this or not. I'd also like ideas of things for them to do each day. I have about one weeks worth of activities, but I need more. So if any of you have any ideas, no matter how ridiculous, PLEASE pm them to me! Arigato!**


	2. Day One

**Okay, so a HUGE thanks to everyone who reviewed! Every one of your reviews really encouraged me to keep going. This is the most reviews I've ever had on a story, and this that was only the first chapter! Anyway, I'm really excited about this now, and I've decided to continue. I will try to get chapters out as often as possible… but I still need ideas for activities and interesting little things to happen along the way. Because right now, there's nothing that big on their schedule, and I really need something to liven the whole thing up.**

**Oh, and one more thing. I'm gonna take it from the view of one character at a time. So I will show it from Amu's POV, third person omniscient, most of the time, since she **_**is**_** the main character of the actual story. And I tend to forget about charas a lot, so if they're not being mentioned, but I didn't say they were somewhere else, just assume that they are there and keeping quiet.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Shugo Chara or Monty Python**

**Arigato! Keep reviewing! And here's chapter two:**

The Million Dollar Bet

Day One

**Amu's POV**

_Where the heck am I?_ Was the first thought that entered Amu's mind when her eyes opened the next morning. She stared at the strange ceiling, letting everything come back to her. _Oh, right, duh! The million dollar bet! I wonder if anyone else is awake._ She sat up and looked around to find that Yaya and Utau were still asleep, but Rima was gone. A soft, distant sound, like pounding rain was coming in the direction of the door that led to the giant, marble-floored bathroom, which was connected to the girls' bedroom. She assumed Rima must be taking a shower. The boys also had their own bathroom, plus there were two downstairs.

Before they had gone to bed the night before, everyone had looked around a bit. They hadn't had enough time to explore the whole of the massive house, but they knew where the most important things were. Upstairs, there was another living room, a giant storage closet with barely anything in it, and a door that opened up onto a huge balcony. There were balconies off of both the bedrooms, but this one was big enough hold several horses with room for them to walk around. It had some porch furniture, another swing, a barbeque, and a fire pit. The balcony also had a flight of tightly winding steps that led to the backyard.

But there was one thing that had perked Amu's interest the most. It was a door that they hadn't bothered to go through. After they had finished getting ready for bed and exploring the rest of the house, it had been late, and no one had done that thorough of a job of looking around. So she decided that now was as good a time as any to see what was behind the door. She opened it up and peered in, to find a dark set of steps leading to another door. When she thought about it, she remembered seeing a small window at the very top of the house, below where the sides of the roof met in a peak. Climbing the steps, she opened the other door, and stepped into an attic. There were lots of wooden crates, cardboard boxes, and chests. In one corner, there was a surprisingly clean roll top desk, which was open, revealing a desktop computer. Amu was going to look around a little bit more, to see if there was anything especially interesting in the attic, but just then, a loud noise emanated from her stomach, and she realized that she was quite hungry.

**Rima's POV**

Rima was the first of the girls to wake. She decided it would be best to get up and take a shower while she still had the opportunity: before Utau woke and decided the bathroom was hers. When she was finished, she got dressed, not bothering to dry her hair before heading downstairs, where she sat at one of the barstools around the huge island counter in the middle of the kitchen. All the countertops were made of marble and cold to the touch.

Glancing at the clock, she noted it wasn't quite 8:00 yet. She was hungry, but didn't really want to make anything herself. A soft pounding of footsteps coming down the stairs announced the arrival of another victim of the bet. Rima turned her head to see long, purple hair, which just happened to belong to everyone's favorite cross dresser: Fujisaki Nagihiko! Well… everyone except for Rima. She glared at said purple-head as he sat at another of the barstools.

"Ohayo, Rima-chan!" he smiled. She glared back. There was a silence in the kitchen, and all that could be heard was the ticking of the grandfather clock in the dining room. Suddenly, more footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs. This time, it was Kukai.

"Ohayo," he greeted, as he entered the kitchen, "I'm hungry. Who's making breakfast?"

"I guess I can," Nagi volunteered, "But I'll need some help. There's quite a few of us here. So what do you want?" He got up and walked to the pantry. (**A/N: I have absolutely no experience in Asian foods, so they're going to be eating mostly things that Americans usually eat. Okay?)** Kukai followed him into the pantry, while Rima sat there, waiting. They didn't take to long, and came back out carrying several packages, which were set down on the counter. Kukai got out a couple of huge frying pans, and placed them on the stove, while Nagi searched through the refrigerator.

"How does pancakes and eggs sound, Rima-chan?" Nagi asked, setting a carton of eggs on the counter next to the packages, which proved to be pancake mix.

"Fine," she stated. More footsteps came pounding down the stairs, and Amu appeared and sat down next to Rima.

"Ohayo, minna-san!" she said cheerfully. "What's for breakfast?"

"Eggs and pancakes," Rima informed her.

"Nagi's cooking," Kukai added.

"But I'll need a bit of help. Is everyone up?" Nagihiko asked. Amu shook her head.

"We're the only ones, I think. And it's already after eight."

"Alright," Nagi began, "Kukai, you go get the boys up, and Amu, you go get the girls."

"What should I do?" asked Rima, disliking the thought of taking directions from her enemy, but feeling quite useless. Nagi smiled.

"You can help me," he replied. Rima frowned, but didn't say anything. Amu and Kukai ran back up the stairs to get everyone else, and Nagihiko began cracking eggs into a bowl, and whisking them. "Rima will you measure out four times the amount on the package of that pancake mix, onegai?"

"Fine," she hopped down from the barstool, which was at least a two foot drop for her.

Half an hour later, everyone was downstairs, sitting around the table in the dining room, and finishing the breakfast Nagi and Rima had made. Rima hadn't done much, since she really didn't have any idea of how to cook anything.

"What are we gonna do today?" Yaya asked cheerfully.

"We should search the house for anything interesting," replied Amu.

"Maybe we should look for hidden cameras. They might be filming us, you know," Yaya added. She still hadn't given up the idea that they were being secretly filmed for a movie.

"I want to walk around outside, too," said Amu, "This place is huge—inside and out."

"I'll come with you… if that's okay," Tadase said. Amu nodded, and they put their dishes on the counter next to the sink before exiting through the side door in the kitchen.

"Who's gonna make lunch?" Utau asked.

"I've got an idea," said Kukai, "There's a whole shelf in that giant pantry of ramen noodles…" he didn't even get to finish.

"You don't stand a chance!" Utau exclaimed, racing into the kitchen with her empty plate. Kukai followed her. The banging of pots could be heard coming from the kitchen as the two ramen-eaters began making themselves a feast. Everyone sweat-dropped.

"But they just had breakfast…" Yaya pointed out.

"Think about it this way," said Nagi, "None of us will have to make lunch!"

"That is, if they don't eat all the ramen in there before we can get any," Ikuto stated.

An hour later, Amu and Tadase were still outside, Utau and Kukai were having an intense battle of eating ramen, and everyone else was bored, as they'd finished their exploration of the house. They were in the upstairs living room, watching Yaya sort through a stack of DVD's. Ikuto had discovered that there was no TV, so everyone would have to be content watching movies.

"This one looks good!" Yaya exclaimed after going through her stack twice. She held up a DVD case. Nagi took it from her and read the title.

"Monty Python and the Holy Grail," he read aloud, "Monty Python is great! This is a really good movie."

"Will Rima-chan watch it with me?" Yaya asked.

"Um… I don't know,"

"Rima-chan, I think you'll like this," Nagi said, "its comedy. Really good comedy."

"It _is_ pretty funny," Ikuto admitted.

"See, Rima-chan?" said Yaya, "If _Ikuto_ thinks it's funny, it has to be _really_ funny." She had a good point.

"Alright, I'll try it out, but if I don't like it, I'm leaving."

"Leaving to do what?" Ikuto asked. "Go spy on Amu and Kiddy-king? Watch a ramen-eating competition?" Rima ignored him and plopped onto the couch. Nagihiko sat on the other side of the couch, and Ikuto got a recliner chair all to himself. Yaya put the DVD in the machine and sat between Rima and Nagi.

Yaya actually ended up closing her eyes and plugging her ears for a lot of the movie. Rima understood why, but it didn't bother her that much. She actually enjoyed the thing, overall. It _was_ very funny. Every time she started to laugh, she'd struggle to hold it in, to keep her pride. But when the minstrels started singing "Yes, Brave Sir Robin turned about, and valiantly, he chickened out," she just couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing. After that, since her pride was already done in for, she laughed all the time.

Yaya loved what she saw of the movie, and afterward, wouldn't stop quoting it. Rima admitted that she _did_ like the movie, and wouldn't mind seeing more Monty Python. They watched a few other movies and looked around outside, but nothing all that exciting happened.

Rima was sitting on the porch swing on the giant balcony with Yaya, as they talked and watched the sun go down. Then Yaya decided to take a bath before going to bed, and left Rima alone. She pushed the swing back and forth with the tip of her toe, which barely touched the ground each time. It reminded her of how short she was. A voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Hey, Rima-chan," it was Nagihiko. She glared at him, and he looked slightly hurt. But he sat down next to her, slowing the swaying of the swing, then pushing them with his feet. Rima hugged her knees to her, and looked anywhere but at the purple-haired boy sitting next to her. They sat in silence for several minutes. "I have a question, Rima," Nagi began after a while. Rima grunted in reply. "Why do you hate me so much? Is it because of my friendship with Amu?" Rima didn't reply. "Amu was best friends with Nadeshiko, not Nagihiko. So why do you hate me? If you don't want to answer, that's okay." There was still no response. The sun dipped below the trees, and left them in almost-darkness. Nagi got up and went inside, not waiting for any longer for an answer. After a few more minutes, Rima also went in, still thinking about his question.

**Thanks everyone so much for the reviews. I'm now really excited about this story, and I will definitely be continuing it. But I still REALLY need ideas.**

**Haha, who would have thought that Nagi likes Monty Python? If you haven't seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail, go watch it. Right now! This is one of Monty Python's best works.**

**Continue to review, onegai! I am going to work on writing a whole bunch tomorrow. I didn't get to do so much today because school took me until 4:30**


	3. Day Two, Part One

**A/N: I meant to get this out a lot sooner, I really did. But things have been… slow. So for this next chapter, I thought I'd give you some Amuto, since the last chapter was mostly Rimahiko. It's really hard for me to keep Ikuto in character, so he might be a bit OOC. I'm probably not gonna update for a while after this chapter, because I have this idea that I've been turning around and around in my head all week, working out the who, what, when, where, why and how's. So far, I've got the who, what and where figured out. That's the easy part. Now I have to figure out when, why and how. Until I've got that, there's not going to be much story. But keep on reviewing! Maybe your reviews will speed my writing up a little XD**

The Million Dollar Bet

Day Two, Part One

It was still somewhat dark in the early morning, but Ikuto didn't mind. Mid-day was the time when it was hardest for him to stay awake. Besides, there was something he wanted to do before the other woke up.

~**Flashback~**

Ikuto watched his favorite pinkette scribbling away in a notebook. He silently walked up behind the couch she was sitting on and glanced over her shoulder, looking at the words that were forming on the page.

_Dear Journal,_

_ Today was the first full day of the Million Dollar Bet Vacation. So far, it's been pretty fun. Earlier, Tada—_

There was more, but Ikuto didn't get to read it. Amu snapped the notebook shut, gasping. Ikuto chuckled under his breath as Amu spun around in her seat, glaring at him.

"You…!"

"Yes?" Ikuto asked, smirking.

"You perverted catboy!" Amu nearly shouted.

"What did I do?" he enquired. "_You're_ the pervert, remember?" Amu began to freak out. Ikuto taunted her a while longer, until he chased her up the stairs and Yaya grabbed Amu. She'd completely forgotten the journal she left sitting on a couch in the downstairs living room. Ikuto hadn't.

~**End Flashback**~

He picked up the notebook and walked outside with it, retreating to the rooftop to find out what Amu had written.

Inside, in the girl's room…

"Whatcha looking for, Amu-chii?" Yaya asked cheerily as she watched Amu search frantically through the room. She'd checked under her bed and under her pillow at least a dozen times now. She'd gone through her suitcase several times, ransacked the closet, and opened and closed all the drawers in the bureau, sorting through each. Amu would have checked in the bathroom, too, but Utau was in there taking a bath, and had been for the past forty-five minutes. Rima and Yaya had been going about their own business, but Amu's search had caught their attention. Both were watching her with amusement.

"Where did it go?" Amu muttered to herself, not even noticing that Yaya had spoke.

"Amu-chan, if you tell us what you lost, maybe we could help you find it," said Rima. Amu turned to look at her friends.

"I lost my journal. It was a—"

"The thing you were writing in last night?" Rima cut her off. Amu nodded.

"I think you left that on the couch," replied her friend. Amu's faced changed to recognition, and then to horror. She raced out of the room and down the stairs, into the living room and to the couch where she had been writing. It wasn't there.

Ikuto finished reading Amu's journal and began to descend from the roof. The sun had come up, and everyone would be awake. This was a problem, as Ikuto wasn't sure what Amu would do if she found her journal in his hands. And if anyone else saw him with it, they would probably tell. The answer came to him when he heard singing emanating out of a window just past the ledge of the huge balcony. He stood on the railing and looked through the window. The girl's bathroom was on the other side.

Utau, who was wrapped in a towel, was singing, while drying her hair with another. Ikuto tapped on the glass, and his little sister looked up to see his face in the window. She shrieked, though not too loud, before realizing that it was Ikuto, and opened the window to give him a piece of her mind.

"Ikuto, you pervert!" she yelled. Ikuto smirked.

"You're my sister," he pointed out.

"That makes no difference," Utau scoffed.

"I need your help," Ikuto said. Utau raised her eyebrow. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Of course I can!"

"Well, I need you to put this somewhere Amu would find it… somewhere she might have left it and forgot about it. Like, behind her bed or something."

"Why would she be looking behind—wait! I don't want to do any such thing! What are you going to pay me?" Utau said. Ikuto thought about it then came up with an answer. He didn't like the thought very much, but if it would keep his name clear by Amu, it was worth it.

"What if… I let you kiss me?" he said. Utau turned her nose up.

"Why would I want to do _that_?"

"Half a year ago you would have jumped at that," Ikuto commented, "It's that Souma boy, huh?" Utau held her hand out.

"Fine, I'll do it. But I don't want your idea of payment. Instead, you have to do the dishes for me on my turn," she said.

"We're taking turns? Since when?" he asked. She nooded.

"_You_ were busy tormenting Amu last night, so you missed it. We created a schedule for cooking and dishes. That means you have to do them tonight, since it was my turn. We're working in pairs… you'll have to work with Yaya tonight." Ikuto looked horrified, but handed the book over.

Sometime after breakfast…

"You want us to do _what_?" the charas yelled.

"Dig a hole to America," Kiseki stated, as if he were asking them to simply fetch him an ice cream cone. But no matter what the others thought of it, Kiseki would get his way. Within a half hour, each chara had their own spoon for digging, and they were looking for a patch of dirt in the back yard so they could begin their strenuous task.

**A/N: I needed to get this out, because I've been working on it for a long time. I've got some good ideas, but most of them will take place later on. I'm splitting day two into two chapters, because… well, I have several reasons, but the biggest one is that I want to get this out, and it would take a LONG time for me to finish this day. So, in the next chapter, you'll find out what happens to the charas on their… odd… mission, and what happens when Ikuto and Yaya have to do the dishes. You'll also see if Amu finds out about what Ikuto did.**

** There is only one way to make me write faster, and that is: REVIEW!!! The more reviews I get, the harder I will work on this. So, if I get like… ten more reviews, the next chapter might be out by tomorrow night or the next day! That is, if my teachers don't overload me with homework. Oh, and I still need lots of ideas, so keep them coming. I like some of the things you've suggested so far. Hehe, my authors notes are almost as long as the story… okay, that's it!**


	4. Day Two, Part Two

**A/N: Sorry, guys. It's really hard for me to keep Ikuto in character. But here's the next chapter!**

The Million Dollar Bet

Day Two, Part Two

After dinner…

"Uhh…" Yaya began, staring at the pile of dishes that needed to be washed. "Ikuto? How do you wash the dishes?"

"What?" Ikuto asked, alarmed. "You mean you've never done them before?" Yaya shook her head.

"I don't know how," she confirmed.

"Well this is great," he said sarcastically, "Neither of us have washed a single dish in our lives. But I've seen it done."

"I think we just put them all in the dish washer," Yaya stated, picking one of the plates off the stack.

"We have to rinse them off, first, I'm pretty sure," Ikuto said, holding some utensils under a stream of water. He placed them in the dishwasher. Yaya put the plate she was holding under the faucet, and then put it, too, in the dishwasher. It didn't take long for the whole thing to be full, and all the dishes in it.

"Now what?"

"Put soap in the dishwasher, and start it up," Ikuto instructed. Yaya looked in the cabinet under the sink, and pulled out a bottle labeled "dish soap". She poured it into the little bowl that's meant to hold soap, shut it, and closed the dishwasher. She located a button on the front that said "start" and pushed it. A whirring sound began, and both Yaya and Ikuto felt very accomplished as they left the kitchen.

In the downstairs living room, everyone was gathering to do… whatever. Nagi, Tadase, Kukai, and Utau were playing a card game that looked very intense. Amu and Rima were having a conversation, while watching their friends play. Ikuto and Yaya walked in from doing the dishes, and seated themselves. Ikuto sat right next to Amu, a bit too close for her comfort level. She pushed him away. This started a tiny argument that no one else was paying much attention to.

When the card game was finished, those playing somehow managed to convince those who were not playing to play.

"What game are we playing?" asked Amu.

"Cheat," replied Utau.

"What's that?" Yaya asked. Nagi explained the game and they played a practice round. Some recognized it, though they had called it by a different name in the past.

"Okay, who has to two of hearts?" asked Nagi. Everyone looked through their cards.

"Yaya does!"

"Then you start," Yaya put down the card.

"Rima-tan's turn," she stated. Rima placed down two cards.

"Two threes," she said, glaring. No one dared to call "cheat" on her. In the end, Nagi won. Yaya had the largest stack of cards. In fact, she had practically the whole deck.

"Let's play the 'what if' game," Nagi suggested. Rima brightened. _This_ could get very amusing. She was about to nod happily, when she realized that her arch enemy had suggested it, and refrained.

"What's that?" was the question coming from everyone's lips. Nagi was going to explain, but Amu interrupted.

"I'm gonna go get some snacks," she said, and walked towards the kitchen.

"Hey, has anyone seen the charas? I haven't seen them in a while," Kukai said. No one had, but they brushed it off. Kiseki was probably ordering them around somewhere upstairs.

Suddenly, a surprised yelp came from the kitchen. Everyone turned their heads. "Amu probably tripped over something," stated Ikuto. Amu came back into the living room.

"Yaya! What did you _do_ to the dishwasher?" she exclaimed. Yaya shrugged innocently. Curious, everyone got up and walked into the kitchen. Half of the tile floor was swamped in yellow foam, and it was coming from the dishwasher. Nagi spotted the bottle of soap on the counter, and stepped through the bubbles to get it.

"Is this the soap you used, Yaya?" he asked. She nodded. Nagihiko did a face-palm. "I guess someone should have told you."

"Told Yaya what?" she asked, staring at the mess.

"You should _never_ put liquid soap in the dishwasher!" Most of them contributed to cleaning the mess up, and had it done pretty quickly. They seated themselves in the living room again, and Nagi started to explain the "what if game".

"So what we do is everyone writes a question that starts with 'what if'," Nagihiko began. "It can be anything, preferably about someone in the room, and something not too mean. For example 'what if Kukai's nose was purple?' Leave room for an answer. Then we'll all put the pieces of paper in the middle, and pass them back out again, and make sure no one has their own. Then everyone will write an answer to the question they have. I'll tell you what to do from there." They had torn sheets of paper into small pieces that were just the right size for a question and an answer. Nagi suggested this game with Rima in mind. She would love it. Some of these could turn out really funny. He began to write his question. They placed all of the questions in the middle and redistributed them.

_What if the whole world turned into a song?_ What kind of a question was that? Well, he was pretty sure who wrote it. He scribbled down his answer. It wasn't a particularly clever answer, but I might get a few laughs.

"Is everyone ready?" he asked, when all eyes seemed to be off their papers. "Good, now here's how it goes: I'm going to read the question I have, then Tadase, who's to my left, will read the answer that he wrote to his question. Then he'll read his question, and Amu, who's to _his_ left, will read _her_ answer, then her question, and so forth, moving to the left in a circle. Okay, here it goes:_ What if the whole world turned into a song?_"

Tadase read his answer, "_Then Amu would leave!_" This produced a few giggles, but it wasn't much more than simply amusing. "_What if the Guardians had to wear capes year round?_" Amu crinkled her nose.

"_I wouldn't like that_," she read aloud. It made sense, but wasn't very funny. "_What if Amu and Tadase were worst enemies?_" She seamed to cringe at the words.

"_Amu and Ikuto would be twins!_" Rima replied. More giggles. It didn't have anything to do with the question. "_What if Ikuto's hair was pink?"_

"_Then Amu-chii wouldn't have a boyfriend! She'd have a candy-loving sister!_" Yaya said. This got several 'what the heck' faces.

"But Yaya, I _don't_ have a boyfriend."

"So?" Yaya asked, and continued. "_What if Tadase decided to wear skirts _all_ the time?"_ A guffaw came from Kukai and Nagi, and a blush from Tadase.

"Yaya, you're question didn't have anything to do with your answer," Amu pointed out.

"It doesn't matter," Kukai, who was next, said "Let's keep going." Yaya read her question again to get the right effect, and Kukai read his answer.

"_What if Tadase wore skirts all the time?"_

"_We would all be in danger of a very hyper Yaya,_" said Kukai, "_What if a giant lollipop swooped down and took over the entire galaxy and turned everything into sugar?_"

"_Then everyone would have to endure Yaya's complaints,_" Utau replied. Okay, even _Rima_ laughed at that one. It took a minute for everyone to recover before Utau continued. "_What if Yaya hated candy?_"

"_Who would care?_" Ikuto said.

"_Yaya_ would care!" Yaya yelled. Ikuto ignored her.

"_What if Nagihiko's face was frozen in a constipated dog's expression_?" Nagi cringed, knowing who wrote it. Did she really hate him _that_ much? Well, this was the 'what if game', and things could be mean. None of this should be taken seriously, he told himself.

"_Everyone would dance all the time_," Nagihiko said slowly. Rima wasn't laughing, or smiling. She didn't even have an evil look on her face. She looked… guilty.

"Wanna play again?" Yaya asked. "Yaya likes this game!"

"Did you even notice that most of the questions were about you?" Rima asked. Yaya didn't care. She wanted to play again. No one else had objections, which was slightly surprising. So they repeated the process, and their results were as follows:

"_What if the charas decided to dig a whole to America?_" Nagi read. If only they knew.

"_We'd all be drowning in soap suds (No offense, Yaya)_," Tadase replied. "_What if Amu hadn't gone to get snacks and seen the foam mess?_"

"_That could be dangerous,_" said Amu, "_What if Yaya had all the candy she wanted?_"

"_His digestive system would protest in a most unpleasant way, I'm sure,_" Rima said, "_What if Tadase ate nothing but chili dogs and prune juice for a week?_"

"_Then I could have lots of candy!"_ Yaya exclaimed happily. Laughter. Nagihiko watched Rima laughing, and was sure he didn't regret introducing this game. "_What if this whole trip was just a fanfiction?_"

"_She would be rich_," stated Kukai, "_What if Rima won the lottery?_"

"_They _are _kinda cute together,_" Utau said, "_What if Rima married Nagi?_" Rima was enraged. She had a dark aura coming from her, but didn't say anything.

"_Tadase would regret it,_" Ikuto growled, making everyone wonder what his question was, "_What if… Amu-chan married… Tadase?"_ Nagihiko was almost afraid to read his answer, lest the wrath of Ikuto be inflicted upon him.

"Uhh… _I wouldn't be surprised,_" he managed nervously. No one laughed. Ikuto was glaring at Nagi, who sweat-dropped. Tadase was blushing. Amu looked worried.

Outside…

"I'm hungry ~dechu!" whined Peppe. All the charas were.

"We've been digging for hours, can't we go in?" Kusukusu asked.

"Okay! Everyone go inside and get something to eat! I command you!" Kiseki roared. They all dropped their spoons and floated wearily away from the 6 inch hole they had dug.

"I can't open the door!" Ran exclaimed, "Help me!" They all tried to turn the knob on the door, but they were too small.

"We can go around to the front and ring the doorbell," suggested Miki. They floated to the front, but there _was_ no doorbell. The charas split up and searched around the house to see if any of the windows were open. They watched their owners inside, laughing and playing some game with little pieces of paper. It was dark. Some of them were scared.

"What now ~nya?"

"We're stuck outside ~desu!"

"We must be brave, loyal subjects! We will use our survival skills!" Kiseki began shouting out orders, while they made their way to the giant balcony.

"We could sleep under here," suggested Rhythm, pointing to the barbeque grill, which had a cover over it.

In the girl's room…

"I haven't seen the charas in a while," Amu mused, flopping onto her stomach on her bed. In doing so, her nose came quite close to the crack between the bed and the wall. "Hey, look! My journal!" she snatched the little book up, and began leafing through it, making sure it was okay. The charas were forgotten, as Amu grabbed a pen and began scribbling down the events of the day. She didn't want to forget a single detail of this whole adventure, so writing it down was very important.

Rima was reading some gag-Manga, and Utau had shut herself in the bathroom. Yaya was bored, and found some candy in her suitcase. She began to munch on it, completely oblivious to the time. The best way to conclude what happened was that all of the girls were especially cranky the next day, besides the candy-loving Yaya.

**A/N: I actually had more intended for this chapter, but it just kind of… stopped. And besides, I need to spread my ideas out to make them last for two whole weeks. That's quite a while. Thanks for the reviews, minna-san! I'm REALLY busy this time of year, so I don't get to write all too much, and when I do, I SHOULD be working on my publishable writing. I got my nonfiction article back from my mentor today! HURRAY! She said it was worth publishing! So maybe someday I will. But I'm gonna try really hard to keep getting these chapters out. Maybe… one chapter a week, though sometimes I won't get to it.**

**Oh, and the what if game is REALLY fun in real life, and it's a great party game. You just have to be careful with little kids because they take everything seriously and are easily offended. I've played it at parties... sometimes younger ones end up in tears. But I highly reccomend this game! You can play it with as little as three people.**

**Remember, the more reviews, the faster the next chapter comes! Arigato!**


	5. Day Three

**A/N: ****the credit for the idea for part of this chapter goes to Ocean.**

The Million Dollar Bet

Day Three

Things were beginning to get crazy. All the girls were really cranky, because Yaya hadn't stopped talking last night, and wouldn't let them get to sleep. Everyone had a stomach ache because, despite his protests, Ikuto had to cook lunch, with the help of Tadase. All the charas were still stuck outside, and they were very hungry.

Kukai and Nagihiko had taken the worst of the food poisoning. No one knew why. Perhaps they simply had gotten the worst pieces of the… whatever it was they ate. Or maybe it was their breakfast that didn't mix with it well. Whatever the case, they were both in extreme pain, and had gone to find some medicine.

"This might work," said Nagihiko, picking up a bottle with some capsules in it. The description proclaimed it would cure stomach aches of certain causes: one of them was food poisoning. Both Nagi and Kukai took two of the capsules, and immediately felt a lot better.

Rima was reading a gag-Manga in the downstairs living room, but things started to get a bit noisy. Aggravated, she stomped up the stairs and to the wide double doors that opened onto the huge balcony. As soon as she stepped outside, a familiar, small voice yelled something, and suddenly, the charas all rushed to her.

"We were stuck out here all night ~nya!"

"We were really hungry," added Iru.

"And it was dark and scary ~dechu."

Rima sighed and opened the door. The charas raced in. She shut it behind them and sat on the porch swing to read her Manga. Content while in her own world of comedy, Rima didn't notice the door to the balcony open. She also didn't notice when the person that walked through the door approached her.

"Hey, Rima-chan," said a voice. Rima jumped, flopped out of the porch swing, and landed in a pile on the ground. She shook for a moment, then took deep breaths to calm herself. Irked, Rima looked up to see who would _dare_ to… Nagihiko?

"Purplehead," she addressed him, glaring. She got to her feet, dusted herself off, and sat back down on the swing. "What do you want?" Nagihiko sat down next to her and began petting her hair.

"Aww, Rima, it's not nice to call people names," he said. There seemed to be something different about his voice, a tone that had never been there before.

"Don't call me that!" she slapped his hand away.

"Why not?" Nagihiko asked. "You can call me Nagi, if you want." Rima glared at him.

"What's wrong with you? You're not acting right," she said, scooting to the other end of the swing. Rima regretted that move when she found herself squished between Nagihiko and the arm rest.

"What am I doing that's not right?" he frowned. "Amu said something like that, too. And so did Tadase."

"Because you are!" Rima exclaimed. Nagihiko put his arm around her and moved even closer… so close their faces were mere inches apart. Rima jumped up.

"Riiiimaaa," Nagi whined.

"See! It's like you're sick or something! Maybe Ikuto's cooking did something to you…" Rima picked up her book and went inside. She stormed down the stairs, and found Amu, who was fixing a meal for the charas.

"Hi, Rima-chan," Amu said, "What's up?"

"Is Fujisaki the only one that's acting weird?" she demanded. Amu thought about it, then shook her head.

"Now that you mention it… Kukai, too. He's acting… kinda like Ikuto!"

"Perverted?"

"Yeah, that's the word!" Amu exclaimed. Just then, Utau came into the room with an odd expression on her face.

"Is Kukai acting weird?" Rima asked her. She nodded.

"I don't know what happened. I think it was something in that… _stuff_ Ikuto fed us."

"Maybe… but how come it didn't effect Ikuto, too?" Rima asked.

"Because he's _already_ perverted," Amu said.

"But it didn't effect Tadase," Utau pointed out.

"Well, I don't think that Tadase would—" Rima began. Amu cut her off.

"If it can effect _Nagi_, then it can effect Tadase, too," she said.

"This house is full of perverts!" Yaya yelled, running into the kitchen.

"See? Even _Yaya_ can tell they're acting weird," Rima said.

"But why only Kukai and Nagihiko?" asked Utau. Everyone shrugged or shook their heads. Just then, Kukai came into the room. Immediately, he spotted Utau and walked over to her, putting his arms around her neck and kissed her forehead. She jerked away from him and put her hands on her hips.

"Why are you guys acting so weird?" Amu asked. Kukai wasn't paying any mind. He was still trying to get Utau's attention.

"Maybe they took some kind of weird medicine," Rima said.

"Kukai," said Utau, "Everyone had food poisoning early this afternoon. Did you and Nagi take something to make you feel better?" He thought about it, then nodded.

"Yeah, but why? Are you still sick?"

"Show us the medicine," Rima demanded. Kukai found it and brought it to them. Utau read the back.

"Warning: kids under the age of 18 may get strange side effects from taking this. Some of these include: hiccups, extreme exhaustion, craving for lunchmeat turkey with whipped cream, a strange urge to watch old cartoons, especially Felix the Cat, perverted-ness…" she trailed off.

"Well, _that_ explains it!" Rima exclaimed.

"Mystery solved," added Amu.

"Is there a cure?" asked Yaya. Utau glanced over the bottle again and shook her head.

"We'll just have to wait until it wears off," she said.

Nagihiko and Kukai were almost their normal selves by dinner time. Afterward, everyone was sitting in the upstairs living room when Yaya exclaimed, "Let's play Truth or Dare!"

"Alright," said Utau, "Amu, truth or dare?"

"Truth,"

"Do like Ikuto or Tadase better?"

"Eeek!" exclaimed Amu, "That's not fair! Uh… both?" Utau glared at her. "Rima-chan, truth or dare?" Amu asked quickly, before anyone could object to her answer.

"Dare," replied Rima. Amu searched her brain frantically for something to dare Rima to do that she wouldn't hate her for.

"I dare you to… make dessert for everyone tomorrow."

"What kind of a dare is _that_?" exclaimed Ikuto.

"Well, can _you_ think of anything better?" Amu asked.

"Yes! Shrimp, Amu dares you to sleep in the attic tonight, without your chara," There was a silence in which Rima weighed the results with her pride, and made up a decision.

"Fine. Yaya, truth or dare?" she finally said.

"Dare!"

"Don't eat any candy for a full day."

"_WHAT?!_"

"Can you do it?"

"Of course Yaya can! Tadase, truth or dare?" Yaya said.

"Truth,"

"Aww, Yaya was hoping Tadase would say 'dare'. Hmm… Tadase, do you hate Ikuto?"

"Not really. Souma-kun, truth or dare?"

"Dare,"

"I dare you to purposely lose a ramen-eating contest."

"What? Well, it's on purpose… okay, fine. Ikuto, truth or dare?"

"Truth," Ikuto replied. Shocked noises came from the group, and said catboy smirked.

"Uh… do you ever act like a kitten?"

"That's Yoru. Girly-boy, truth or dare?"

"Umm… dare," replied Nagihiko.

"You have to stay in the attic, too. No charas," Ikuto was looking pleased with himself. Nagi gulped.

"Uh—okay. Rima-chan, truth or dare?"

"Truth," she said, glaring. This was what he had been hoping for.

"Why do you hate me?" he asked. There was no answer, resulting in an expectant silence. After a few more seconds with no answer, Nagi sighed and gave up. "That's okay, you don't have to answer if you don't want to. Amu, truth or dare?"

"Dare," she replied. Just then, Rhythm, chased by several other charas, came flying into the room. A pair of headphones appeared around Nagi's neck.

"Kiss Tadase," said Nagi, chara-changed with Rhythm. Amu's cheeks now matched her hair. She rose from her seat and walked over to Tadase, kissing him on the cheek. Ikuto glared, making Tadase feel nervous.

Rima walked into the girls bedroom and opened a drawer in the bureau dresser. She pulled out her pajamas and set them on her bed, then walked into the bathroom and began brushing her hair.

Truth or Dare was not one of her favorite games, and she sure didn't like what had come out of it. It wouldn't be so bad if it was her and Kusukusu, but Nagi would be there. And there wouldn't be any charas. She doubted she would sleep at all that night.

Kusukusu floated up beside Rima, looking at her in a sympathetic way. "It'll be okay, Rima-chan. Nagi is a good boy, he won't do anything perverted."

"The _cross-dresser_? Maybe not, but I'm still not thrilled about this whole thing," she stressed the 'cross-dresser'.

After changing, Rima picked up her pillow and pulled all the covers off her bed. She began dragging them out of the room, down the hall, past the living room, and up the stairs. Opening the door, she pulled everything into the attic. It was really dark. Ikuto hadn't said she couldn't have a flashlight, did he? No, she was pretty sure he didn't. Rima piled her covers on a stack of crates, and ran back down the stairs. She searched through her suitcase and found what she was looking for: a small, silver flashlight. On her way back out of the room, she also took her pillow, which she realized she'd forgotten. When everything was in the attic, Rima began to set up her covers to make a suitable bed. The ground was hard, but there wasn't much to be done. Just then, the door creaked, and Nagi came in, carrying an armload of his bed covers, which he set down on the ground.

"Hey, Rima-chan," he said. Rima glared.

**A/N: In the next chapter:**

**Find out what happens to Rima and Nagi**

**What will Ikuto do to Tadase?**

**What will happen to Yaya without eating candy for a full day?**

**Haha! This is getting really fun. I know this chapter took a long time to write, and it's pretty short, but I was busy. So reveiw please!**


	6. Day Four, Part One

**A/N: You know those things that seem like a really good idea at first, but you end up regretting them? Well, my a/n in the last chapter was like that. I've been running all over the place lately, and really don't have THAT much time to write. And the chapter with Rima and Nagi in the attic is gonna be really fun, and I didn't want to rush it too much. Besides, I thought it would take forever for me to get ten reviews, so I wouldn't have to hurry so much. Well, I was wrong. So, in order to write the scene in the attic to the best of my ability, I'm not including it in this chapter. Gomensai, please don't kill me! It'll be in the next chapter, which I'll try to post… as soon as I can. Hopefully tonight or tomorrow. Gomensai! Anyway, I learned my lesson.**

The Million Dollar Bet

Day Four: Part One

Amu pulled out her chair and sat in it, looking at the bowl of ramen in front of her. "Ramen for _breakfast_?" she asked Utau, who had made the meal that morning.

"What's wrong with it?" Utau asked in return.

"No-nothing!" replied Amu, and began eating. Glancing across the table, she noticed Ikuto smirking. He did that all the time, so it shouldn't have worried her, but this time it did. She decided not to worry about it right now, though, because at that moment, Rima and Nagihiko came down the stairs. They sat at the table silently, neither of them with readable expressions. Amu couldn't help but wonder how things went in the attic…

Utau was already done eating when Kukai sat down. So his rather lame dare was fulfilled.

Rima didn't take part in any conversation. She was busy staring off into space, and occasionally sending a glare in the direction of Nagihiko. No one really seemed to notice, though.

About fifteen minutes later, Amu noticed something was missing in the group. "Where's Tadase?" she piped up.

"Hey, now that you mention it, I haven't seen him since yesterday," said Kukai.

"Ikuto, could you possibly know anything about this?" Amu asked, trying to look very serious. Ikuto shook his head.

"Why would you ask _me_?" he said, looking _very_ innocent.

"Let's go look for him," suggested Amu, rising from her seat.

"He'll probably show up. There's no need to start a search party," Ikuto protested. Amu sat back down.

"Okay, maybe he's still asleep," she said, surprising Ikuto that she had listened to him.

Yaya was the first to get up and bring her bowl into the kitchen. Everyone else was still in conversation. Rima followed Yaya with her half-empty bowl.

"Rima-tan didn't eat all her breakfast," Yaya pointed out as the girls set their dishes in the sink.

"I don't really feel like eating," replied Rima. "I'm going outside for a bit." She began walking towards the door that went outside from the kitchen. Yaya went back into the dining room to take part in the conversation going on there.

"Hey, Nagi," Kukai was saying when Yaya entered. "I think we're _all_ curious…" he trailed off. Nagihiko cleared his throat and fixated his eyes on his bowl of ramen. The two golden orbs didn't move from that position as he spoke.

"Curious about what?" he was going to play stupid to stall, though he wasn't sure why. There wasn't really _that_ much that he _could_ tell them.

"You know very well," said Utau. "What happened last night in the attic?"

"Not much, really," Nagihiko explained.

"Don't lie!" Amu exclaimed. Everyone was staring at him, waiting for something interesting to come out of his mouth. Nagi looked up from his apparently intriguing bowl of ramen so they could see his truthful expression.

"I'm not lying. Really, it wasn't that big of a deal. It was a bit creepy up there at night, I must admit, but that's all."

"Okay, if you insist," Utau said, and changed the subject. "So what do you guys want to do today?" There was a silence that seemed impatient but thoughtful.

"We could play hide and seek!" Yaya exclaimed.

"I haven't played that game in years," said Amu, "But why not?"

"Sure," everyone agreed lazily.

"One, two, three, NOT IT!" yelled Yaya. There was a chorus of 'not it's' from the group. Amu was last, and therefore, 'it'. She stuck her nose in a corner like a five year old in time-out and began to count to two-hundred. Everyone ran off.

"A hundred and ninety-six, a hundred and ninety-seven, a hundred and ninety-eight," counted Amu a while later, "A hundred and ninety-nine, _two hundred!_ READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!" She yelled the standard warning when she was finished. Amu spun around and uncovered her eyes, glancing around the room for any hints. She walked into the kitchen where she opened and closed every cabinet and searched the pantry. If the charas had been playing, she would have looked in the drawers, too.

Exiting the kitchen, Amu decided to search upstairs first. She looked in the giant storage closet, but to no avail. She searched the boys room next, and still didn't find anyone. In the girl's room, Yaya was hiding under Utau's bed. The candy-loving girl followed Amu into the attic. All of Rima and Nagi's things were still in there, and Kukai was found behind a huge stack of crates. The three of them looked around the loft and the upstairs living room before going onto the balcony. No one was there, so they went downstairs. Nagihiko had squeezed himself into a cabinet in one of the downstairs bathrooms.

"Now we just need to find Utau and Ikuto," said Yaya.

"Maybe we'll find Tadase while we're looking," Amu pointed out, as she opened the closet under the staircase to search it. A shriek of surprise escaped her lips as her eyes fell on Tadase. He was gagged and bound, and still in his pajamas.

**A/N: Sorry this was so short. I'm gonna get the second part out hopefully tomorrow. But I gotta get off the computer now, and I was gone most of today, and yesterday, and the day before. I could give lots of excuses, but that would just make this note longer. So, all together: please don't kill me! Onegai! I promise the next installment you will find out what happened in the attic and there will be some Amuto, since I had requests for more of it. Thanks for reading!**


	7. Day Four, Part Two

**A/N: Hope you guys like this chapter. Sorry the last one was so short. I have requests for more Amuto, so I'm gonna try to put it in soon. But this story will probably have a lot of Rimahiko.**

The Million Dollar Bet

Day Four: Part Two

Rima walked away from the grand house that they'd been staying in. Making her way to the stream that ran through the yard, she followed it to the bridge, where she sat on the railing, watching the water rush over the smooth stones of the streambed.

Since last night, Rima hadn't been quite sure what to think. Her emotions seemed to be zigzagging back and forth so fast she couldn't keep track of them. Above all else, the one thing that was confusing her the most was everyone's favorite cross-dresser: Fujisaki Nagihiko.

**~Flashback~**

The attic was not very big. Rima supposed it would look a lot larger if there wasn't so much junk piled up all over the place. Moonlight fought its way through a small, dingy window high on the wall, letting in barely any light at all.

Rima sat on the bedding she had laid out for herself to sleep on, hugging her legs to her chest. Her chin rested on her knees, and her eyes were wandering around the dark room. The small, silver flashlight she had brought with her was a huge comfort to the petite girl.

A creaking sound came from the door as it opened and Nagi came back into the room, carrying the last of his things, which he set on his pile of covers. Time passed in silence, Nagihiko lying on his back on his 'bed', and Rima still sitting up, hugging her knees and clutching her flashlight. Neither of them were sleeping, and both were aware of the fact that the other was still awake. After at least a half hour of silence, Nagi spoke.

"Rima-chan, why do you hate me?" he asked, sitting up to look directly at her. She turned her head the other way.

"Not that again," she mumbled.

"Really, Rima-chan. I want to know why. Maybe I can change—"

"No."

"No to what?"

"Everything. Just… no," Rima turned her head back to look him in the eye.

"Why do you hate me so much?" Nagi repeated. A silence ensued, in which Rima seriously pondered his question.

She'd thought about it before, but hadn't come up an answer. Af first she'd told herself she was jealous—jealous that he was Amu's best friend. But he wasn't—at least, _Nagihiko._ Shouldn't she, then, hate _Nadeshiko_? _Nadeshiko_, who was Amu's best friend? _Nadeshiko_, who had lied to all 'her' friends? But Rima frankly didn't care about _Nadeshiko_.

Maybe it was because Nagihiko had lied to Amu, who was Rima's best friend. It was a workable excuse, but she wasn't sure it was true. In fact, she was positive it _wasn't_.

"I don't know," she finally whispered. Nagi didn't answer. "I don't know why." More silence. Rima muttered something inaudible—something that was most certainly _meant_ to be heard. But Nagi didn't hear it. "I don't like this attic," Rima changed the subject.

"Neither do I," he said, "And I'm glad you brought the flashlight." Nagihiko reached into a pocket and pulled out a deck of playing cards. "It's obvious neither of us are going to sleep any time soon. Do you know how to play speed?" Rima nodded. She positioned the flashlight so they could see the cards while Nagi began dealing. "Okay, let's start."

They flipped over the first set of cards. 5 and 7. Within an instant, the 7 was a 10, and the 5 a 6. They were stuck. Another couple of cards were flipped, and they began slapping down their hands as fast as they could. Eventually, a slightly ironic war between queens and jacks was played back and forth. Rima placed down a queen, Nagi a jack, Rima another queen, and back and forth until all the jacks and queens were exhausted. They continued playing for a while, before Rima got bored.

"Three out of five game, I win," Nagi stated, though neither really cared all that much. The flashlight was held between them, making each more comfortable being able to see the other's face. "So you probably won't be speaking to Ikuto for a ling time, huh?" Nagihiko asked.

"That's right. I'm putting us on no-speaking terms. I wouldn't talk to you, either, but…"

"But what?"

"I'm stuck here with you. Besides, I'm not mad at you, I just don't like you."

"So it's gone from 'hate', to 'dislike'?" Nagi's eyes lit up. "Well, that's an improvement." Rima glared.

"No, I hate you," she said.

"Oh," sadness filled his voice. More silence. There seemed to be a lot of that around here.

"Now what?" Rima asked.

"I don't know." Just them, the flashlight died. Rima resisted the urge to swear. It was so dark she didn't want to move.

"Nagihiko?" her voice had fear etched into it.

"We're fine, Rima. Maybe we'd better try getting some sleep."

"I'm not tired," Rima said.

"Alright," Nagi replied. Somewhere outside, an owl hooted. This frightened Rima, and she squeezed her eyes shut. The frogs could be heard singing in their bumpy voices. Although she knew it was foolish, Rima was scared. A dog howled somewhere far off. The tiny blond jumped and grabbed the nearest thing she could find, which happened to be Nagihiko's arm. No objections came from the purple haired boy as Rima clung to him, her eyes still shut tightly.

**~End Flashback~**

A loud "Ready or not, here I come!" startled Rima out of her memory. But that wasn't even half of it. The part that was making her mind and emotions go all weird had happened later on. Rima listened to the water trickling under the bridge, which she was still seated on. It was a calming sound, and she liked it. Maybe it could help her sort her mind out. The chasm of thoughts and emotions was a huge mess right now, the stream seemed to know what it was doing. She stared at the stones that the water was rushing over, searching for answers.

One thing was clear: the memory that had sent her grip on sanity somewhere into the abyss of feelings flowing through her, to the point where she couldn't find it, but knew it was still in existence.

**~Flashback~**

Rima and Nagi had been sitting in the darkness for hours, the former still clutching the latter's arm. Few words had passed between them. Rima's mind had been focused on one main subject: why did she hate Nagi? She had thought it over so much, she was beggining to doubt her hatred. He hadn't ever done or said anything mean to her that she could remember. Maybe she didn't really hate him…

"Rima-chan," Nagihiko said eventually, "You do know that no matter how much you despise me, I _don't_ hate you." She looked up at the darkness where is face probably was.

"W-why?" she stuttered. Nagihiko's free hand came up to her face, resting on her cheek. His face must have been a lot closer than she thought, because all of a sudden, he was kissing her.

Rima did nothing at first, just sitting there is surprise, some emotion running through her that she couldn't place. It could have been horror, and shock was definitely part of it, but she couldn't quite place it. It was foreign, and she felt like it didn't belong, like she wasn't ready for it, trying to push it away.

But then, by some sort of unknown force, she began to return Nagihiko's gesture. It wasn't something that she particularly _wanted_ to do, but for some unknown reason, she did it. The foreign feeling was overwhelming her, and she wasn't quite sure if she like it or not. It wasn't anything like anger or frustration, and it wasn't like sadness, so maybe she could deal with it. But it wasn't like happiness or amusement or the overwhelming joy she got from comedy. This strange thing was different in a way she couldn't describe.

Unsure and wary of the emotion, she pulled away. She suddenly felt very awkward, realizing what had just happened. She wasn't sure what to do. Should she just ignore that it had ever happened, and go on with life like it was before? That was an easy excuse, and Rima decided to try it. It may not work, but she could at least attempt it.

Moving farther away from Nagihiko, she settled under her covers and placed her head on her pillow. Maybe she would wake up and find that it had all been a dream. Or maybe she would wake up and have forgotten about the whole thing.

"Not a word of this to _anyone_," she growled to Nagihiko before her surprisingly heavy eyes drooped shut, and she dropped into the abyss of sleep.

**~End Flashback~**

And now she was confused. Not about Nagihiko: she had him figured out pretty well. She was confused about herself. Was it possible that she _didn't_ hate Nagi? What was that strange feeling that had coursed through her the night before? And most importantly, why did she respond like that?

---

"Tadase, what are _you_ doing in there?" Amu gasped.

"MMghhhhffrrrrg," said Tadase. Kukai helped him out of the closet and worked on taking out the knot binding his hands while Amu untied the gag.

"Why were you in there?" she repeated.

"Ikuto," Tadase replied.

"What did Ikuto do?" asked Nagihiko.

"He tied me up and threw me in there last night. I think he's mad at me,"

"Ikuto! He's gonna get it when I find him!" Amu exclaimed.

"When you find him?"

"We're playing hide and seek!" Yaya exclaimed.

"Let's split up to look," said Kukai. Amu nodded.

"We're also looking for Utau," she added. Everyone ran off to find the two siblings.

**A/N: I meant to make this longer, but I had writers block earlier on in the day, and my dad wants me off the computer because I've been on it too much today. But I will write by hand tonight and try to post tomorrow. Gomen, I really wanted to write more. Oh well, there'll be some Amuto in the next chapter.**

**Tell me what you guys thought about the attic scene! I've never really written fluff before… well I have, but it was really lame. I'm actually quite proud of this.**

**Oh, and the next chapter will be part three of day four**

**Arigato! Review, onegai!**


	8. Day Four, Part Three

**A/N: I meant to update this a lot sooner, but Microsoft Word betrayed me. That might sound dramatic, but it did. And now it won't work, so I'm using Openoffice, which I absolutely HATE. So until Odaasama can fix Microsoft word for me, this will be the last update. But he should fix it pretty soon... I hope.**

**And once again, I must apologize for my terrible skills at keeping Ikuto in character. I have a really hard time with it, so I just hope this wasn't too bad.**

**So enjoy the next chapter!**

The Million Dollar Bet

Day Four, Part Three

Amu walked onto the largest balcony off the giant house for the second time that day. She hadn't searched it very thoroughly before, and didn't have any idea where Ikuto or Utau would be hiding. _Of course, Ikuto would be good at hiding, now wouldn't he?_ She thought.

At that moment, she happened to look up at the roof. And sitting there, just like a cat, was Ikuto.

"Ikuto! I found you!" she called.

"Come and get me," he said.

"This is 'hide and seek', not 'hide and seek _tag_'. Now come down here," Amu argued.

"Nope. You gotta catch me," said Ikuto.

"But I can't get up there!"

"What's that? You need some help, you say?" Ikuto jumped onto the balcony from her perch, landing on his feet. He picked Amu up bridal-style, and jumped back up onto the roof. The pinkette protested loudly, but Ikuto didn't let go.

"Ikuto! Baka! You hentai!" she shrieked. He set her on the roof.

"_You're_ the pervert, remember?" he teased.

"I-I am n-not!" Tomatoes, red peppers, and cherry-flavored lollipops were all jealous of Amu's face at that moment. "N-now g-get me down from h-here," she demanded. Ikuto smirked.

"Aww, Amu-chan. My little strawberry doesn't want to stay up here with me?"

"N-n-no!" she replied. Ikuto sat down on the roof, bracing himself against the shingles so he wouldn't fall off—like that would happen, anyway. Then he promptly pulled Amu onto his lap. She, predictably, shrieked.

"Ikuto! You pervert!" yelled the blushing girl. He chuckled in response.

"Takes one to know one," said Ikuto.

"What are you talking about?" Amu scoffed. Ikuto kissed her cheek. Her blush deepened, if that was possible.

"You're the pervert. How many times do I have to remind you?"

_**~Inside~**_

The first place Yaya searched was the kitchen. Amu had probably already looked there, but she couldn't help liking the thought of finding some cookies or cake in the pantry while she looked. Much to her disappointment, there weren't any sweets already made. She had a candy bar in her pocket, but remembered the dare. Rima had said "no candy". She hadn't said anything about brownies.

Yaya's face lit up at the thought, as she opened the pantry and food a box of brownie mix*. She red the directions on the back and got to work.

_**~Outside~**_

Rima was still sitting on the bridge, sorting out her thoughts, when she heard the _clunk, clunk_ of soft footsteps on the wood platform. The person stood next to her in silence for a while. Rima eventually looked up to find Nagihiko. She'd known it was him, even though she'd been facing the other direction. A tingling heat in her cheeks told her she was blushing.

"Hey, Mashiro-san," he said.

"You were calling me 'Rima-chan' last night," she muttered.

"Ummm," Nagi cleared his throat, "Rima-chan, I wanted to apologize." Rima just stared at the water disappearing under the bridge. "I'm sorry... for last night." Well, that took away Rima's tiny fleck of hope that it had all been a dream. She looked up at him. He really did look sorry. "We were starting to get along a bit better... but I blew it. Will you forgive me?"

There was no answer at first.

"Was that your first kiss, Rima-chan?" he asked, genuine concern and regret on his face.

She nodded. In a way, Nagihiko was happy, but he _did_ regret it.

"I'm really sorry, I didn't know... I don't really expect you to, but won't you forgive me?"

At that moment, Rima had an idea. She wasn't sure _why_ it popped into her head, but she had a strange urge to do it. But when she thought it over, she decided against it... at first. She _did_ want to forgive Nagi, but kissing him again would just be cruel. Yet, Rima _was_ that cold, cruel kind of a person, now wasn't she?

Jumping down from her seat on the railing, Rima faced Nagi. Then she stood on her tip-toes and kissed him right on the lips.

_**~Not too far off~**_

Utau had been hiding for quite a while, and was getting bored. Sitting in a tree with leaves and branches poking into you for twenty minutes isn't fun... but it could be interesting. She'd been watching Rima sitting alone on the bridge for quite some time. The blond chibi devil seemed to be deep in thought. After a very long while—by which Utau's stomach was growling, since it was almost noon—a purple-haired boy walked up to Rima.

She'd seen everyone running in different directions, still playing hide and seek, and Nagihiko had come to Rima. Although Rima hadn't been playing, Nagi had found her. He started speaking, but Utau couldn't make out the words. Eventually, Rima nodded. He said something else, and Rima stood.

Utau had to cover her mouth to keep from voicing her shock, when Mashiro Rima stood on her toes and kissed her worst enemy, Fujisaki Nagihiko, full on the mouth.

The first thing that went through Utau's head: _OMG, am I dreaming?_

The second thing that went through her head: _Haha, I knew this would happen sooner or later._

And the last, but possibly most important, thing: _Black-mail information._

_**~30 minutes later~**_

Kukai and Tadase were also looking for the Tsukiyomi siblings. However, they had refined their search to inside the house. So when Kukai thought he smelled something burning, they both headed downstairs to the kitchen. Indeed, when they got there, a small stream of smoke was flowing out of it. A frightened Yaya could be heard yelling as she tried to do something about whatever was burning.

Bravely, both the boys dashed in to help. The stove was on fire, and Yaya was trying to do something about it, but to no avail. The fire was getting bigger and more out of control by the minute. Kukai grabbed Yaya and carried her out through the side door, setting her safely outside, while Tadase waved his hands around, trying to blow the smoke away.

"Souma-kun! What do we do?" he yelled, and Kukai came back in to try to do something about the fire. At that moment, seemingly by some miracle, Nagi came rushing into the kitchen. He grabbed a lid, placing it over the pot on the stove. When the flames somewhat subsided, he turned the stove off.

"What the heck happened in here?" he asked, opening the door to let the smoke out. Yaya, who was now standing next to Tadase and Kukai, looked sheepish.

"Um... Yaya was trying to make brownies, and.... well..." she twiddled her thumbs.

"Oi, Yaya, why were you using the stove to make brownies?" Kukai asked, raising an eyebrow. Yaya flushed red, and stared at the floor.

"Well... Yaya thought..."

She didn't really get to finish, because everyone started laughing loudly.

**A/N: This was meant to be longer... oh well. I got this great idea for the next few days of this.**

***Brownie mix: I don't know if this even exists. I know cake mix does, but I'm not sure about brownies. I wouldn't know, anyway, because all the deserts in my house are made from scratch. For the sake of the story, let's just pretend it exists.**

**Reviews are nice :)**


	9. Day Five, Part One

The Million Dollar Bet

Day Five

"Yaya's bored!" exclaimed said guardian. Everyone was sitting, once again, in the downstairs living room, doing practically nothing. It was just after lunch, and the charas were working on their project outside, although Kiseki refused to tell the humans what it was. "Yaya wants to play a game."

"Like what?" Amu asked, shoving Ikuto away for the umpteenth time. He kept sliding closer to her and poking her in an obnoxious manner.

"Hmm... Yaya wants to play the 'would you rather' game!" she declaired.

"What's that?" asked Nagihiko. It hadn't gone unnoticed that he hadn't been speaking much at all lately. Neither had Rima, for that matter, and both of them seemed to be avoiding each other more than usual. Everyone but Yaya, Tadase and Utau was wondering what was up. Yaya and Tadase because they hadn't caught on, and Utau because she already knew.

"We take turns asking questions that have an either-or answer. And you have to pick one or the other, you can't say 'neither' or 'both'. So like, I could say: 'Tadase, would you rather have a big nose or big ears?', and he would have to pick one."

"Sound like fun. I'll go first," Ikuto said, already thinking of how to take advantage of the silly game. "Amu, would you rather have a cat or a dog?"

"Uhh... I d-don't know! C-cat," she said. Ikuto smirked and shot a triumphant look in Tadase's direction. He didn't seem to have figured out the metaphor, however, and was unfazed.

"Your turn, Amu-chii," Yaya prompted.

"Uh... Utau, would you rather have horse hooves or pig hooves?"

"What the heck? Uh... horse hooves, I guess," Utau answered. "Rima, would you rather marry Nagihiko or Tadase?" She grinned evilly. Rima began to blush and looked away to hide it.

"Neither."

"You have to pick one!" Yaya shouted. There was a long silence, in which Rima seemed to be weighing the results of either answer.

"N-Nagihiko," she finally said, then quickly moved on, "Yaya, would you rather eat chocolate or vanilla cake?"

"Chocolate! No, vanilla! No! Wait! That's no fair! YAYA WANTS BOTH!!!" Yaya began to pout, then finally made up her mind, "Chocolate. But I like vanilla just as much! Tadase, would you rather have a unicorn or a dragon?"

Tadase thought it over for a minute, before deciding, "Unicorn." He sat in silence for a while, and finally said, "Nagihiko, would you rather be a desk or a pencil?"

"Well, pecils get sharpened, and that has to hurt. So I guess I'd rather be a desk." Nagi answered. Tadase nodded in a greement, and the game continued. "Kukai, would you rather have green or purple skin?"

"Uhh..." he scratched his head, then shrugged. "Green, I guess. Ikuto, would you rather be a golden retreiver, or a labrador?"

For the sake of the dignity of those involved, we will cut the scene here.

**~Later that day~**

"We should have predicted how that game would have turned out," Utau said, rubbing hydrogen peroxide onto the deep cat scratchs on Kukai's face. He flinched each time the cotton ball came in contact with the wound, but tried his best to stay put.

"It wasn't Yaya's fault!" Yaya wailed. The three of them were in the kitchen. Utau sent her a glare.

"Then whose was it?"

"Uhh... Ikuto's!" Yaya exclaimed.

"It was _not_ Ikuto's fault," insisted said catboy's little sister.

"It was probably my fault for asking the question to start with," Kukai said sheepishly.

"No, it wasn't," Utau insisted. "Yaya was the one who started the dumb game, and you're supposed to ask questions that are hard to answer. It wasn't your faut, Kukai. And you were the victim, so you're out of the discussion, anyway."

"Where's Ikuto now, anyway?" Yaya asked.

"Probably on the roof," Amu said, sitting down on a barstool at the island counter. She had entered the room a few moments ago, and heard the second half of their conversation.

"Why don't you go get him?" Utau asked, still trying to clean out the scratch on Kukai's face. "Just tough this out, will you?" She said to him, aggrivated.

"No way!" Amu said in response to her first question. "The last time I went up on that roof..." she trailed off, mumbling. Utau finally slapped a bandaid across the cut and turned to Amu.

"What?" she asked, interested.

"He..." _mumble, mumble, mumble._

"Say that again?"

"He was... being pervy!" Amu exclaimed.

"Ah, normal Ikuto for ya," Utau turned back to Kukai and choked back a snort.

"What?"

"You look pretty funny with a bandaid across your face like that!"

"Yaya, remind us never to play that game again," Kukai told the candy-lover. She just nodded.

"I'm gonna go find Rima," Amu said, "She's been acting kinda strange lately. I don't suppose any of you know what's up with her?" Everyone shook their heads. Utau smirked.

"Not a thing," she said, then added so quietly only she could hear, "yet."

"Okay," Amu walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs. She looked in the girls bedroom, and saw a round shape on the balcony off of their room. Heading that way, she opened the sliding glass door and stepped outside, to find Rima curled into a perfect ball.

"It's going to rain," Rima commented. Amu looked at the sky. Indeed, it was dark and cloudy, and had a rather rainy look about it.

"Yeah, maybe we'll even have a thunderstorm," she added, sitting next to her friend. "So what's up?" Rima looked upward.

"Rain," she replied.

"Don't be smart. I can tell something's bothering you. Why don't you tell me about it?"

"I'm fine," Rima said.

"Rima-chan, I'm your best friend. Don't you trust me?"

"Yes, I trust you, Amu-chan."

"Then why don't you tell me? It will probably make you feel better. Maybe I can help," she offered. Rima shook her head.

"I don't really know what's wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"It's this feeling, and I don't know what it is," Rima began. _Splat._ A tiny raindrop fell onto the concrete floor of the balcony in front of their feet. She hugged herself even more tightly, curling into a ball again.

"Maybe if you describe it I can point it out," Amu suggested. Rima sighed. She wanted Amu to help her, but with how messed up the pink-haired girls own ambhitions and emotions were, sehd din't think it would do much. _Plop. _Another drop of rain landed on Amu's nose. Somewhere far off, a crash could be heard that sounded an awful lot like thunder.

She stood up, pulling Rima along with her. Looking toward the roof, she yelled, "Ikuto! Get inside _now!_ There's a thunderstorm coming and you shouldn't be up there!" The sound of Ikuto descending from his pertch could be heard, and he landed on the larger balcony that was only about 10 feet away from the edge of the one the girls were standing on. They went inside.

**A/N: I'm really sorry this is so short! I wanted it to be longer, but I've been really busy lately. I have a biology test coming up and some other things like that. I ordered a sailor uniform off the internet and it came in yesterday! I'm so happy! It's really cute.**

**Anyway, I have an idea, but I'm not sure if you guys will like it or not. So I need you to review or PM me and tell me what you think. Should I or shouldn't I do it? Here's the idea:**

**Yaya and Rima are looking through all the junk in the attic and find that a lot of it isn't junk. They find a working video camera with all the other stuff they need, and decide to make a movie. Ikuto directs. It's a parody off the Phantom of the Opera, called the "Phantom of the Op'ry". (This is actually a play, but they could edit it and make a movie). So they decide to make a homemade movie, and I won't be writing it out scene by scene, but I thought it might be something fun for them to do. Because I'm running out of ideas fast. So I need your guy's help.**

**Tell me what you think. Like it? Is it an awful idea? Have any better ones? I sure hope you do! I would have to edit a LOT in that to make it work with only 8 actors/actresses. At least Nagi can play both girl and guy parts!**

**Arigato!**


	10. Day Five, Part Two, Day Six, Part One

**A/N: Gomen, minna-san, Utau is a bit OOC. We're already finishing day five! NYAAA! I almost don't want this fic to end... yeah, we're not even half way through, but it's still seeming too fast. And what's worse: it's tick season already! I've seen three within the past two days. EEK! It's awful, especially since I live out in the country where there's lots of sagebrush and LOTS of ticks. Eww. Surprisingly, I've never gotten one, although I've lived here for 11 years.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Phantom of the Op'ry. And some of the songs featured in here are altered from the original script, by my amazing drama teacher. The original is not as funny, I think.**

The Million Dollar Bet

Day Five, Part Two, and Day Six, Part One

"Rima-chan," Amu said, "Why won't you tell me what's wrong?"

"I don't think that you would understand," Rima replied.

"But you might need someone to give you advice. Is there any of us that _might_ understand?"

"Well... Yaya definitely would not," she said.

"What about Utau?" Amu asked. "Maybe she can help you out. She's the oldest of us and probably knows all about whatever is wrong."

"Yeah... maybe," Rima muttered, not really wanting to talk to Utau. It was more of a trust thing than an understanding thing when it came to her. She didn't really feel like talking out her problems with the famous girl.

Unfortunately, Amu didn't really think about that. She wanted to help Rima out in whatever way she could, even though she didn't know it might only make matters worse.

"I'm gonna go get her," Amu began to walk out of the room, but ran into Utau on the way. "Oh, U-Utau! H-hi! Rima w-wants to talk to y-you."

"I do?" Rima asked glumly. Utau raised an eyebrow.

"What's going on?"

"Rima's upset, and I can't figure out why. She doesn't want to talk to me because she doesn't think I would understand. But I was sure that you would. I'm going downstairs!" Amu left. Utau smirked at Rima.

"So what did Amu want me to pry out of you?"

"It's nothing," Rima turned toward the wall.

"That's okay. You don't have to tell me," Utau said, though she sounded mischievous rather than sympathetic.

"Hmph."

"Rima, I know what's going on."

"Huh?" she turned back again to face the older girl.

"I know why you've been acting weird," she said. Rima doubted that.

"Really?"

"Yes. I do. I know your secret."

"What secret?"

"Don't play dumb," Utau scoffed. "It's not like you could have forgotten something like _that_."

"Like _what_?" Rima challenged, not really wanting her to say it.

"Yesterday. On the bridge," she said. Rima turned her face to hide the blush forming on her cheeks and muttered some inaudible words. "What was that?"

"Nothing," Rima stated, still not looking Utau in the eyes.

"I'm not going to tell anyone, though. I would have already, if I was. That is, unless you get on my nerves. Which isn't all that likely. Or if I want you to do something for me."

"Are you threatening me?"

"Not really. I'd consider it more like... blackmail."

Now _why_ did Amu have to have Utau come in here and talk to her?

**~The next day, sometime after breakfast~**

"Rima-tan! Look at these!" Yaya yelled, holding up two very fancy dresses that she had pulled out of a trunk.

"Lovely," Rima said, uninterested. Yaya had insisted that they look through all the stuff in the attic to see if there was anything 'fun' in there. Everyone else was watching a movie downstairs that Yaya hadn't wanted to watch, and forced Rima to come with her. Rima hadn't been that intrigued by the movie, anyway, so didn't put up too much of an argument.

Suddenly, something else caught Yaya's eye and she dropped the gowns. It was a chord hanging out of a box. She opened the box and began looking through it, excited.

**~Downstairs~**

"Look what Yaya found!" Yaya yelled, running into the living room downstairs, where most everyone was seated, finishing the movie they had been watching. The ending credits were creeping their way across the screen by the time the statement was out. Rima followed Yaya, carrying a cardboard box and folded-up tripod.

"What, Yaya?" Amu asked. Yaya peered into the box in Rima's arms, and pulled out a video camera. It was new-looking, and appeared to be good quality. In the box were also several tapes, batteries, and an AC adapter to go with it.

And that was how they got the idea of making a movie. No one protested to this, and Ikuto was elected director. Next, they simply had to choose a story.

"Yaya wants it to be about a princess in a tower, and a prince comes..." she didn't get to finish.

"Prince? Hahahaha, no, I am a _king!_ The movie shall be about me and my kinglyness!" Tadase ranted on while Amu ran to get a bucket. When he finally stopped, they went back to discussing the matter at hand.

"It should be a horror movie," Ikuto began.

"No! It should be a musical," Utau protested.

"That would be cool, especially if it had lots of dancing it it," said Nagi.

"I think we should do a comedy," Rima said, her nose in the air.

"A romance would be fun," stated Amu.

"It should have action!" Kukai exclaimed.

"And candy!" Yaya added.

In the attic, which proved to hold all sorts of entertaining items, they found several scripts for plays. These could easily be edited to make a good movie. It was almost as if the whole thing had been set up for their enjoyment.

To accommodate everyone's interests, a script was selected carefully. Ikuto announced the play, handed out scripts, and assigned parts.

"We're going to do _The Phantom of the Op'ry_," said Ikuto. Everyone stared at him blankly.

"What's that?" Yaya asked.

"It's a spoof of _the Phantom of the Opera_. It has comedy, drama, singing, romance, and a little bit of dancing. Now I'll give you your parts. Since there's lots of parts and not very many of you, most of you will have to double up."

They nodded in understanding.

"The phantom will be played by girly-boy. Amu, you're Christine. Utau is Carlotta. Kiddy-king, you'll be Farleigh Good. Soccer-jock, Chester and Junior. Shrimp, you're Silvia Acidtongue and Madame Baracuda, no objections! Nagihiko, you'll also be playing Mrs. Swansong, 'cause I know you can pull that off. The only major part left that can't be deleted is Louisa. So who wants to play her?"

There was no answer.

"You could take the _a_ off the end," suggested Utau, "and Ikuto could play 'him'." Ikuto protested, but was outvoted. So he was playing 'Louis'.

"Umm... who's Raoul?" Amu asked.

"This is a spoof. There is no Raoul in this. He's replaced with 'Farleigh Good'," he explained, handing scripts to everyone. "Okay, let's go over the first song, since that's what it opens with."

**~Two hours later~**

"I think we finally have it!" Ikuto said. "Let's do this one more time, and I'll film it."

Nagi, dressed in dark clothes, a cape, and mask, stood in the middle of the 'stage', which was the living room with the furniture removed. A light was shone on him, and two other figures, Yaya and Kukai, could be seen as silhouettes near him. Music began to play, and Nagi started to sing.

_I Enjoy Being A Ghoul_

**Nagi:**

_A whoopee cushion on a chair_

_Always makes me smile_

"_Kick me!" signs on backs_

_Sitting on thumb tacks_

_What a great lifestyle!_

_I'm the number-one annoy-er_

_Of everyone that's cool_

_Call me cold, call me heartless_

_But I enjoy being a ghoul!_

**Yaya:**

_We have a madman on the loose_

_So you must take care_

**Kukai:**

_Better take a hike,_

_Pretty soon he'll strike;_

**Both:**

_Who knows when or where!_

**Nagi:**

_I make women scream in terror,_

_Make grown men loose their cool._

_Call me strange, call me silly,_

_But I enjoy being a ghoul!_

**Yaya:**

_He's standing in the shadows_

_He's hiding from the light_

**Nagi:**

_And don't think that it's easy_

_Wearing masks like this at night_

**Kukai:**

_He could be round the corner_

_You'd better look around_

**Nagi:**

_'Cause I can give a wedgie_

_And not even touch the ground_

_I make women scream in terror_

_Make grown men loose their cool_

_Call me rank, call me rot-ten_

_But I enjoy being a ghoul!_

**Yaya:**

_He's positively frightful_

_The worst of all my fears_

**Nagi:**

_The sound of people panicking_

_Is music to my ears_

**Kukai:**

_He could knock 'em dead on Broadway_

_Or kill them at the Met_

**Nagi:**

_But since I'm here_

_I'll treat to a show you won't forget!_

_I'm just a wild and wacky guy_

**Both:**

_He's some sort of freak!_

**Nagi:**

_Throwing rotten eggs,_

_Pulling hair on legs!_

_It's a great work week!_

**Both:**

_He's the Phantom of the Op'ry_

_And people as a rule_

_Call him sick, call him psycho_

**Nagi:**

_But I enjoy being a ghoul!_

_I'm the phantom of the Op'ry_

_A wild and crazy fool._

**Yaya:**

_The man's touched!_

**Kukai:**

_The man's loony!_

**Nagi:**

_Still I enjoy seein' the frightened fleein'_

_All the he-he-he-in'_

_Oh, yes!_

_I'm decreein': I enjoy being a ghoul!_

**~Cut~**

"You guys did great!" Amu exclaimed, glomping Yaya.

"Good job, Ramen-boy. I didn't know that you could sing," Utau said. Then she turned to Ikuto. "When do I come on?"

"After the second song," he replied.

"What's that?" Amu asked. Ikuto glanced at his script.

"He Who Can Creates, He Who Can't Writes Reviews," he told her.

"What kind of a song is that?" Rima asked, thinking about how stupid the name sounded. Ikuto smirked.

"It's a song about _your_ character," he replied. Rima closed her mouth and turned away.

"That was hard," Kukai said. "We should take a break. Up for a competition, Idol-san?"

"Of course I am!"

"How about this: You race around the house once, come in through the side door, and then eat lunch as fast as you can," Kukai offered. Utau agreed, and they zoomed out the front door.

"That's going to be disasterous," Nagi winced.

"Why?" Amu asked.

"It rained last night," he replied, "The ground is still wet and muddy."

**~Outside~**

Utau was in the lead, because Kukai slipped when they got off the porch. But the whole yard was wet. She rounded the corner going behind the house, and fell face-first. She rolled over so she was laying on her back rather than her stomach, and began to rub her head.

At that moment, Kukai came around the same corner, and also fell, half slipping on the grass, and half tripping over Utau's outstretched feet. He landed right on top her. There faces were close. Very, very close. In fact, they were so close that with a few millimeters more, he would have been kissing her.

_Why not?_ Kukai thought. If he was lucky, she'd think it was an accident. He moved the few millimeters between them.

**~Inside~**

"What's taking them so long?" asked Yaya, as she helped Amu and Nagihiko set bowls of ramen on the table.

"Yeah, you would think they'd be back in here by now," Amu agreed. "Maybe they decided to run two laps."

"They probably slipped," Nagihiko said, "It's still wet out there. It rained all night last night."

"Rima-chan," Amu said, "Why don't you go make sure they're alright and didn't hit their heads if they fell." Rima nodded and headed out the door.

Looking around, she didn't see anyone, so she went around the corner. What she found surprised her at first, but then she started giggling.

"Utau," she managed between giggles. "You think you can blackmail me? You're sitting there in the grass with Kukai, all muddy and wet..." she was laughing to hard to speak anymore.

Utau and Kukai broke apart and looked at her.

"Crap," Kukai stated. Utau stood up and walked over to the laughing Rima.

"Do think that I care that much? Besides, if you tell, I'll give _your_ secret away," she said. Rima's laughter died down.

"And if you tell, I'll tell. So both of us had better keep quiet," she replied. "And you guys had better get in there. Everyone is wondering what happened to you. You'd better tell them you ran two laps, and maybe slipped on top of it, or they're going to wonder even further." She turned and headed back to the house.

Lunch was awkward. Ikuto seated himself next to Amu and bugged her repeatedly. Rima was busy trying not to look anywhere in the direction of Nagihiko, and he was almost as much of a mess as she was. Yaya tried to lighten up the mood, but it wasn't working. Kukai and Utau ate their ramen quickly as always, but rested in an awkward silence after that.

Eventually, Utau spoke up. "I'm going to go wash up. I... slipped, and got mud all over me." She stood and walked up the stairs.

"Can I go wash up, too?"

"No," Ikuto said, "You're in the next song, and we're filming it next."

"Kukai's in all the songs, isn't he?"Yaya asked. Ikuto shook his head.

"Nope. All but one, I think."

"Do I sing?" Amu asked. Everyone looked at her with a 'you can't be serious' face.

"Amu, you're Christine, the star. Remember?" Tadase reminded.

"There's a song that's all about you," Ikuto added. "I'm hoping we can get all the singing filmed today. Then we can do the rest of it tomorrow. Possibly."

"We'd better get to work, then," Nagi said, getting up from the table and putting his bowl in the sink. Everyone did the same.

"Okay, you guys have already been taught the tune. Do you know your lyrics and ques?"

**~One hour later~**

Utau was back from washing up and was watching them film their song. All that were not singing were trying their best not to crack up at Ikuto singing. He wasn't bad, but it was a pretty funny sight. In the scene before the song, Ikuto, playing Louis, who was buying the Op'ry House, along with Yaya, the former owner, and Kukai, in his role as Junior, the sheriff's deputy, were discussing critics. They were singing a song about how awful critics could be.

_He Who Can Creates, He Who Can't Writes Reviews_

**Yaya:**

_With razor-like teeth and vice-like claws,_

_With demented minds and dispositions like Jaws!_

_The critics come and circle their prey,_

_Then they bash it and slash it,_

**Kukai:**

_They whack it and hack it,_

**Yaya:**

_They mash it and trash it,_

**Ikuto:**

_Attack it and and sack it,_

**Kukai:**

_They mutilate and maim._

**Yaya:**

_It's a crying shame._

**Ikuto:**

_Why do they act that way?_

_Say those rotten things each play?_

**Kukai:**

_The answer isn't quite black and white,_

**Yaya:**

_But I see through the grey._

_He who can creates!_

_He who can't writes reviews._

_He who can performs,_

_He who can't likes to abuse._

_While artists clime life's mountains_

_Critics try to pull them off their peaks_

**Ikuto:**

_Those who can entertain,_

**Yaya: **

_Those who can't write critiques._

**All:**

_He who can creates!_

_He who can't writes reviews._

_He who can performs, he who can't likes to abuse._

**Ikuto:**

_While artists take life's high road_

**Yaya:**

_Critics like to take the other route._

**Ikuto:**

_Those who can tug at hearts,_

**Yaya:**

_Those who can't rip them out!_

_When a writer must hang up his pen,_

_When actors take day jobs again,_

_You know some critic's watching with a smirk._

**Ikuto:**

_When a dancer must throw out her shoes,_

_When producers sing financial blues,_

_One wonders why such evil is at work_

**All:**

_He who can creates,_

_He who can't writes reviews_

_He who can performs,_

_He who can't likes to abuse_

**Ikuto:**

_While artists climb life's ladders,_

**Yaya:**

_Critics try to yank them off the rungs._

**Ikuto:**

_They stab with poison pens,_

**Yaya:**

_And sting with acid-tongues!_

**All:**

_They stab with poison pens,_

_And sting with acid-tongues!_

**~Cut~**

All those not singing burst out laughing. Except for Rima, knowing that she was the one they were singing about. Well, the character she was playing, not her, but it was still not funny.

**A/N: Gomensai! I'm really sorry for this totally lame chapter. I'm kinda tired. But I want to continue the movie thing. In the next chapter, they'll do the song "You're Too Good to be True". That should be fun. If you want to hear the tunes to these songs, look them up on youtube. But if you do that, it's not quite how I imagine this. When we did the play for drama, we picked up the pace of the music a bit, and our voices were better. So they're actually singing, not wailing like in those videos.**


	11. Day Six, Part Two

**A/N: I didn't get a single review for the last chapter. It made me really sad. :'( I knew that it was bad, but was it really THAT bad? I even put in some kutau to make up for it. Oh, well. I guess my movie idea didn't work out as well as I thought it would. They'll finish it up this chapter, for the most part. Well, at least all the singing. But I'm going to use it to the advantage of the story. Don't worry, it won't be focused on the filming!**

The Million Dollar Bet

Day Six, Part Two

Once again, a song was being filmed for the movie. This time, it featured Amu, Yaya, Nagihiko, and Kukai all singing about Amu's character, "Christine". Kukai was playing Chester, who did practically nothing but sing and yell "FIVE MINUTES" when there was five minutes left until showtime. Nagihiko was playing Amu's mother. Everyone was laughing at this, and Amu was awing over his resemblance to Nadeshiko. Yaya was playing Minerva, who was the former owner of Skunk Creek Op'ry House. In the story, Louis (Ikuto), was buying the op'ry house. The song performance went something like this:

**Amu:**

_I sing like Lilly Russel,_

_And Dance like Ziegfeld's best._

_My mom thinks that my talent_

_Can't be beat in all the west._

_Someday I will go solo._

_The stars I hope to reach._

_And when I bask in glory,_

_I'll hear my public screech:_

**Others:**

_You're too good to be true._

**Amu:**

_I'm too good to be true._

**Others:**

_You're too good to be true_

**Amu:**

_I'm too good to be true._

**Others.**

_Oh, Christine S., How you impress_

_We're ga-ga over you_

_Talent to spare, Broadway beware!_

_You're to good to be true._

**Amu:**

_I never use my beauty_

_To try to get a part_

_I've far too much respect for_

_My profession and my heart_

_But should some cruel producer_

_Try to misuse my charms_

**Nagihiko:**

_I'll tie his legs like pretzels, _

_And break both of his arms!_

**Others:**

_You're too good to be true_

**Amu:**

_I'm too good to be true._

**Others:**

_You're too good to be true_

**Amu:**

_I'm too good to be true_

**Others:**

_So squeaky clean, lovely Christine_

_You're pure a morning dew!_

_Snow White, I swear, cannot compare_

_You're too good to be true_

**Christine:**

_I always use good manners,_

_While working on the set._

_I rarely throw a tantrum,_

_Make demands, or even fret._

_I'd never break a contract,_

_Or hold out for a raise,_

_For these and other reasons_

_My co-stars sing this praise_

**Amu:**

_I'm too good to be true._

**Others:**

_You're too good to be true_

**Amu:**

_I'm too good to be true_

**Others:**

_She knows her lines, she never whines_

_And comes in right on cue._

_Oh! What a pro, watch her fame grow_

_You're too good to be true!_

**Amu:**

_I'm too good to be true._

**Others:**

_You're too good to be true_

**Amu:**

_I'm too good to be true_

**Others:**

_You're too good to be true_

**Amu:**

_Who wouldn't be jealous of me?_

_'Cause I'm hard to out-do._

_Miss U.S.A. better make way_

_I'm too good to be true!_

**Others:**

_She's too good to be true!_

**~Cut~**

"Now I'm glad I didn't get that part," Utau said. "Carlotta may be fat, but at least she's not arrogant!"

"Umm... Carlotta is just as arrogant," Amu pointed out. "She sings about herself, too. It's called 'When the Fat Lady Sings'."

"Just one thing," Kukai began, "How are we going to make Utau look fat?"

"I'll take that as a compliment," said the singer in question.

"We'll just put lots of stuff in her clothes," Ikuto said casually.

"Nagihiko, I can't believe how much you look like Nadeshiko like that..." Amu changed the subject. Nagi looked worried. He had been forced into a dress to make him look like a girl so he could play Amu's mother. He'd also put his hair up. "Sometimes it's almost like you guys are the same person."

"Hey, Amu!" Tadase called, seeing the trouble she was causing and wanting to help.

"What, Tadase?"

"Uh... Let's go outside!" he thought up quickly.

"Okay," she abandoned the rest of them and trotted after Tadase, who exited out the side door. Ikuto glared.

"I've got to go," he mumbled, and went out the front door. Of course, he was going to eavesdrop on them. Maybe even do a little spying, or drop in at precisely the right time. Because of this, filming was cut short for the day. Without Ikuto, there was no filming. Besides, Utau _really_ didn't want to have to get dressed up for her part.

"Making a movie isn't as fun as Yaya thought it would be," said Yaya.

"It's better than sitting around all day doing nothing," Rima pointed out.

"We could find something more fun to do!" Yaya suggested.

"Like what?"

"Hmm... A masquerade ball!" Yaya yelled.

"No. Where did Utau and Kukai go?" Rima asked no one in particular. The two had dissapeared.

"I think they went upstairs," Nagihiko said.

"I'm going to go find them," Rima replied, and headed in that direction.

"Do you think Rima-tan is acting weird?" Yaya asked as soon as she was gone.

"Umm... well, I _did _notice that." Nagi admitted, hoping Yaya wouldn't pry anything out of him. After a few minutes, Rima came trotting back down the stairs.

"Did Rima-tan find them?"

"Yeah," she replied, "In the living room upstairs. I think they're a couple now."

**~Around midnight~**

Rima lifted her face and let water droplets splat onto her cheeks. She squinted her eyes so that no water would get in them. Why she was taking a shower at midnight was a completely reasonable question. But there wasn't much of an answer: she'd simply felt like it. Just like she'd simply felt like kissing Nagihiko the other day on the bridge.

Except, that was different. There was some strange urge pulling her to do something as irrational as that, and she'd done it. Taking a shower was more of a relaxing thing that she'd decided to do to calm herself.

Besides, she was bored. She couldn't sleep, although everyone else was deep under its spell. She'd been careful not to wake anyone, but it wasn't likely they would have, anyway.

And now here she was, sorting out her thoughts while taking a shower. The main thing that was bugging her? The strange, foreign feeling that had harbored itself within her for the past few days. She just couldn't figure it out. At first she'd been confused as to why Nagihiko had kissed her in the attic. And then he'd apologized and was really sorry about it. The solution was simple: he like Rima. It was possible it was more than just a simple crush, too. He wouldn't have been sorry if he didn't. In fact, if he didn't, he probably wouldn't have done it in the first place.

Rima was not sure, however, as to her own motives. It had been something she'd done completely relying on impulse, ready to blame her own cruelty. It _was_ cruel to do that to him, and then just go about ignoring him like usual.

One thing she _was_ sure of about this strange feeling: it wasn't hate. And it didn't feel like it belonged in her. She didn't want it there. If she convinced herself she hated Nagihiko, maybe this strange thing would go away. And then she'd never have to worry about it again.

But it hadn't worked. She'd ignored the feeling as long as she could, but now it was just driving her nuts. What the heck was this? Her mind raced, memories flooding it without mercy. Memories that included Nagi. But they weren't unpleasant. Images flashed through her head, and she found herself smiling. Thoughts that had before been unwelcome were now fond memories. Even if they weren't happy times.

And then in struck her. This odd feeling that had been plaguing her for the past few days. Everything crashed onto her head like the water pouring from the shower. And three words rang clear in Rima's mind: _I'm in love_.

**A/N: Sorry guys, this was short. REALLY short. And I have no excuse. Not having any reviews made me sad and not want to write, but I have an idea now. And this chapter was also lame, I was in a writers block. Until the last part. That part I'm proud of. And the next chapter will hopefully be good!**

**I just wanted to tell you guys this:**

**On Tuesday, I walked into history class and there was a rumor going around our class of 5 students that we were going to have a pop history quiz. I didn't remember much of the reading, and started to panic, but came up with a plan. I have a secret weapon a lot like Rima's, but very few people know about it. My history teacher came in and started talking to us, and I burst into tears. She came over to me and asked me what was wrong. I said "Please don't make us take a history test," and looked up at her with a teary face. Haha, everyone believed me! They seriously thought I was crying for real. It was kinda fun, and even though I blew it by laughing in the end, no one found out the tears were fake. But the downside was that I was sniffling all period from the after effects, and had to keep blowing my nose. Oh, well, it was fun anyway. I love being able to cry on command.**


	12. Day Seven, Part One

**A/N: I had fun writing this... **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Three Stooges**

The Million Dollar Bet

Day Seven, Part One

**~Recap~**

And then in struck her. This odd feeling that had been plaguing her for the past few days. Everything crashed onto her head like the water pouring from the shower. And three words rang clear in Rima's mind: _I'm in love_.

**~End Recap~**

A smile burst onto Rima' face: the smile that had been locked away for the past few days. For some reason, her epiphany didn't seem like a bad thing. She was happy.

Turning the knob of the shower all the way to the right, the torrent of water ceased and she wrapped herself in a towel. She slipped into her clothes as quickly as she could and rubbed the towel over her hair to dry it a little bit. There wasn't time to do anything more. Somehow, Rima felt a need to do something about the realization immediately.

She turned off the light in the bathroom and opened the door. All the other girls were asleep. A nervous excitement filled her stomach, and she noticed the smile was still plastered across her face.

Rima slipped back into the bedroom, crept across it, then turned the doorknob as quietly as she could. _Click_. The door was open. She walked out, making her way soundlessly across the hall. Inching along the wall, Rima remembered something that presented a flaw in her plan: Ikuto=cat. He'd probably be awake. If he caught her slinking about at night like this... he would probably tell. He had absolutely no reason to keep a secret for Rima.

There wasn't much to be done about it; she would just have to be extra careful. Rima knew what she was going to do—what she _needed_ to do—and she was going to do it, right now.

Determined, she opened the door to the other room just enough for her to slide in—on her hands and knees. Her breathing was uneven and nervous, and she forced herself to calm it.

The only light was coming from the windows on the other side of the room. It was barely enough to see by, but she could make out the four large shadows that were beds. Now she ran into another problem: Which was Nagihiko? And worse yet, one of them was Ikuto, and he'd probably be awake. If she picked the wrong one...

Taking a deep breath, Rima readied herself to take her chances. As quietly as she could, she crept to the bed closest to her. She stood on her knees and peered over. It was too tall to be Nagihiko. _Crap,_ she thought when the figure moved,_ That's Ikuto_. She crept across the room and found the person there far too short to be Nagi, and had blond hair poking out from the top of the covers. Tadase. Two more beds: fifty-percent chance.

Luckily, fate seemed to be on her side at that moment, because she found Nagihiko next. Once again standing on her knees, she shook him in attempt to wake him.

"Wake up, purple head!" she whispered into his ear. He didn't obey her. After several failed attempts, she was beginning to give up hope. "I'm warning you, Fujisaki, if you don't wake up _right now_..." That did it. His eyes shot open and he blinked a few times when he saw Rima, then muttered something about dreaming.

"No, it's really me! You're not dreaming!"

"I'm not?" he asked. Rima shook her head. Suddenly, he was fully awake.

"Rima! What are you doing in here?"

"Shh! I think Ikuto's awake," Rima warned.

"Oh, sorry," he said.

"Come with me," she whispered urgently.

"What? Why?" Nagihiko asked.

"Just come! I need to tell you something," Rima hissed. He did as he was told, and the two of them crawled out of the room.

"Okay, so what do you want?"

"Not here. We'll wake everyone up with our talking." Rima dragged him to the largest balcony, and shut the door behind them. The lighting was a little bit better there.

"So what did you wake me up in the middle of the night to tell me? And you're hair's all wet! You're going to catch cold out here."

"It's fine. This is important."

"What is it? Is something wrong?"

"Yes. I mean, no! I... had a realization."

"Of what?"

"The thing that's been confusing me for the past few days."

"Yeah," said Nagihiko, "You _have_ been acting weird. So what was it that was confusing you that's so important?"

"This odd... feeling," Rima said. Nagi raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sick?" he asked, genuine concern in his voice.

"That was what I thought at first..." she mumbled. "It's not really like _that_. But I realized what it was."

"What do you mean?" asked Nagihiko. Rima took a deep breath, and told him the whole thing.

"I've been really confused ever since... ever since you... since you kissed me in the attic. And I wondered why I wasn't mad at you—I should have been, for taking my first kiss. But I wasn't, and it confused me. There was this odd feeling that came with it. And on the bridge the other day, I was running completely on impulse. I want to apologize for messing with you like that. It was cruel." She paused for a moment, and he looked slightly disappointed. Then she continued.

"Then tonight, I couldn't sleep, because of all the thoughts crowding my mind. So I decided to take a shower. And suddenly, it all came to me, and I understood."

"Understood what?"

"Nagihiko, I... realized that... I love you."

**~In the Morning~**

_Achoo!_ The moment Rima woke, she sneezed. Nagihiko had been right when he'd said she'd catch a cold with her hair wet outside in the middle of the night. She decided to ignore it, and tried to go back to sleep.

Unfortunately, it wasn't that easy. Besides the sun streaming in the window, Yaya was yelling in her ear to wake her up. Rima pulled her pillow over her head to block out the obnoxious noise. It didn't help much, and eventually she sat up just to prove to Yaya that she was awake, and that the yelling was unnecessary.

"Hurray! Rima-tan's awake! It's time for breakfast!"

"Yaya..." Rima groaned. _Achoo!_ Yaya looked a little bit surprised at the sound that had erupted from the short blond.

"Is Rima-tan getting sick?"

"Yes! I think I have a cold. I'd better stay in bed," she replied, laying back down.

"Okay, Yaya will bring you your breakfast!" Yaya yelled, and ran out of the room. The silence was nice, and she found herself falling asleep again, which had been her original goal. Just as sleep had nearly taken over, a loud voice came zooming into the room. With it came Yaya, carrying a trey with her breakfast on it.

"Arigato," Rima said quietly, when the candy-loving girl placed the trey on her lap. Sneezing again, she took a look at the contents of the trey. There were a couple of waffles drowning in syrup, with a strawberry on each. A cup of tea accompanied them. She wrinkled her nose.

"Is Rima-tan gonna be okay?" Yaya asked.

"I don't like this kind of tea," she stated.

"Well, Nagi said that you had to drink it, even if you didn't want to," Yaya countered. Rima's heart fluttered at his name, but she had to keep up her act.

"Since when do I take orders from him?" She turned up her nose, but sipped the tea anyway.

"Yaya's going to find something to do, ta-ta!" Yaya said, walking back out of the room. Rima ate her breakfast in silence, sneezing every now and then.

Eventually, Amu came into the room. "Hey, Rima-chan! How are you feeling? Yaya said you were sick... and you slept in really late."

"I'm okay. I just have a cold... I think. Are we filming today?"

"Yeah... we're filming scenes with you in them. Can you act?"

"Maybe. I'm not _that_ sick," she sneezed again.

"If you stay in bed all day, you'll get better really fast," Amu suggested. Rima narrowed her eyes.

"Are you trying to get rid of me for a day?" she asked.

"N-no! Where d-did you get th-that idea?" the pinkette waved her hands in front of her, looking very embarrassed.

"I know," said Rima, giggling. Amu looked at her in a weird way.

"You're in a good mood, aren't you?" she asked. Rima nodded. "Why might that be?"

"I don't know," Rima lied, then changed the subject. "I think Ikuto wants you." She pointed out the window, where Ikuto could be seen on the balcony. He smirked, and Amu yelled at him.

"Ikuto, you hentai! Go away!" he shook his head. Amu stormed onto the balcony where she was instantly abducted to the rooftop by a blue-haired cat-boy. Rima sighed, and sneezed again

The door opened. Glancing in that direction, a wide smile spread across her face. "Nagihiko!" she exclaimed happily.

"Ohayo, Rima-chan!" he smiled back at her. This was enough to make her heart flutter. "So you _did_ catch a cold last night? Are you okay?"

She nodded. He walked over to her bed and sat on the edge of it. Rima's smile dimmed a bit.

"You shouldn't be in here. What if someone walks in..."

"To see me sitting here? Is there anything wrong with that?"

"Well... they might suspect something, and I want to keep it a secret as long as possible," Rima explained with a sneeze. Nagi put a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you going to stay in bed all day?"

"No, I guess not," she said, pulling back the covers and standing up. Nagihiko looked slightly surprised.

"You slept in your clothes?" he asked, already knowing it was true. Rima nodded sheepishly. "Rima, you need to take better care of yourself. You stayed up really late, went outside with wet hair and caught a cold from it, and then slept in your clothes, all in one night."

"My mind was preoccupied," she replied, sneezing again. Nagihiko looked worried, and opened his mouth to speak. "Don't you dare say 'I told you so', Nagi-_koi_," she said, stressing the honorific in a teasing manner. He shut his mouth, but smirked happily. The next thing Rima knew, she was being pulled into a hug. She wrapped her arms around Nagihiko's waist tightly and rested her head against him, as he placed his chin on top her head, breathing in the scent of her hair.

After a few moments, he lifted her face with his hand and kissed her cheek. She giggled, then pulled back. "You're going to catch my cold if you keep that up," Rima warned. Nagihiko sighed.

"It's amazing how fast things changed. Just yesterday we weren't speaking to each other. Are you sure you want to keep this a secret?" he asked.

Rima nodded, and sneezed again. Nagi's face creased with lines of worry. She changed the subject.

"Amu said Ikuto wants to film today," _achoo!_ "And I don't think it would look right to have a sneezing critic... or Madame Barracuda, for that matter." He smirked.

"Have you read the script?"

"Kind of... just the scenes I appear in."

"It's kind of funny that we have apposing parts. I'm playing the mother of Christine, and you're playing the mother of Carlotta."

"Well that should be _fun_," Rima said sarcastically, sneezing for the umpteenth time. "But seeing that I'm not doing any acting today, I'm going to see if there's any good comedy movies in this house to watch." She turned toward the door, Nagi following.

**~On the roof~**

"Ikuto! Let me down right now!" Amu demanded.

"What did you expect when you came out on the balcony? You were setting yourself up. You fell into the trap, and now you have to pay the consequences. I'm going to keep you for as long as I want," replied Ikuto. Amu turned away from him, her nose in the air. A pair of arms wrapped themselves around her waist from behind, and she felt a nip on her ear.

"BAKA HENTAI COSPLAY NEKO!" she yelled, jumping away from him and nearly falling off the roof in the process. _If only my charas were here. What is Kiseki making them do, anyway?_

"I'll let you down, but it comes with a price," Ikuto said mischeiviously. Amu faced him, hopefully.

"What do you want?" she asked, ready to give almost anything. Unfortunately for her, she didn't notice the look on Ikuto's face that would have warned her what was coming.

"You have to promise you'll give it to me," he said.

"Sure, whatever, just get me down from here!" she replied loudly. Satisfied, Ikuto nodded, and picked Amu up yet again. Holding her 'bridal style', he jumped from the roof and landed on the balcony coming off the girls room. Before she could go anywhere, he kissed her full on the mouth.

Amu freaked out and ran inside, slamming the door behind her and locking Ikuto out.

**~Outside~**

The charas were still attempting to dig a hole to America. Before it had rained, their hole had nearly been a foot deep. But the rain filled it in, and they'd had to spoon all the water out. Yet with the wet ground, it was easier to dig. It was now nearly a foot-and-a-half deep. Kiseki was very pleased with himself.

**~Inside~**

Amu was still really freaked out. She had gone into the kitchen, hoping to find Rima, although she had no idea why. What she found instead was a very hyper Yaya, running in circles around the kitchen. Also in the room was a worried-looking Tadase, and a smirking Kukai.

"What happened?" Amu asked, forgetting about Ikuto. Kukai's smirk grew into a grin.

"Yaya discovered coffee," he explained casually.

"Now why would Yaya want to drink coffee?" Utau asked, walking into the room. "She loves sweet things, and coffee is very bitter."

"It had _a lot_ of creamer in it," Tadase said. Amu and Utau had 'oh' faces on.

"Yaya thinks coffee is almost as good as candy!" Yaya yelled more loudly than usual. Everyone sweat-dropped. _This_ was going to be a long day.

"Where are Rima and Nagihiko?" Utau asked.

"Rima's sick. I don't know where Nagi is," Amu replied.

"Well, it's his turn to make lunch," Utau replied, "I'm going to go find him."

"But he made breakfast," Tadase pointed out.

"It was Rima's turn to make breakfast. He did it for her, so it's still his turn to make lunch," Utau said, walking away. She had become very suspicious of both Rima and Nagihiko. And it seemed like there was a battle going on between the two blonds: a blackmail battle. Rima had found her kissing Kukai twice: the first time when she slipped on the wet grass, and the other time when Rima was looking for them and found them in the upstairs living room. It wasn't that the girls disliked each other: they didn't. But both had information about the other that could be a valuable weapon.

_Achoo!_ Utau could hear sounds coming from down the hall. There was also talking, which sounded like it was from an old movie. As she walked further down the hall, she could make out what the voices were saying, and placed them as the three stooges.

"My uncle was an igloo manufacturer,"

"How do you manufacture igloos?"

"You take to igs and you glue 'em together!"

_Bonk, clatter, clank!_

Yep, that was definitely the three stooges. Utau walked into the upstairs living room to find Rima and Nagihiko watching said old comedy show in black-and-white. They didn't look like they could possible be enemies, sitting there together and laughing. She almost hated to interrupt.

"Nagihiko, you're making lunch today," she said, and they both turned to look at her. Rima paused the show, and Nagi got up, groaning.

"Okay, thanks, Utau-san," he said, walking down the hall towards the stairs. Utau smirked at Rima, who turned the other way to hide a blush.

"Why do I sense that you and Nagihiko don't hate each other as much as you say?" she asked. Rima's answer was a sneeze, after which she got up and followed Utau downstairs.

**~Ten Minutes Later~**

"Yaya, _what_ are you doing?" Amu asked, peering into the living room from the dining room where she was setting the table. Yaya was jumping on the couch. "Uh—I don't think that's a good idea. Why don't you come in here?"

_That_ didn't turn out to be a good idea, either. Apparently, when Yaya was _this_ hyper, she did things that she wouldn't do when she just normally hyper. After dancing around the kitchen for a few minutes, she skipped over to Kukai and kissed him.

Utau was, put mildly, furious. She began flaming and her eyes gleamed as she walked toward the little girl, ready for revenge. Yaya squeeked and ran outside, where she came face-to-face with Ikuto, who was coming inside for lunch. Turning back inside the house, she was faced with a raging Utau. Now she was stuck.

Everyone else watched the scene before them play out like it was a movie. They were completely silent. Utau started scolding Yaya, who didn't seem to be paying much attention. The younger girl eventually disappeared, unharmed.

A foul odor filled the air, making everyone cough.

"Nagihiko, I think something is burning," Tadase managed. Nagi looked startled, then ran to take something black out of the oven. He sweat-dropped when the disgusting... whatever-it-was let out a stream of black smoke. Taking it outside, the awful smell lessened. It was left out there.

"Now what are we gonna have for lunch?" asked Nagihiko. Utau was already taking care of the situation, however, by punching a few numbers into her cellphone. She spoke into it, then interrupted her conversation.

"Kukai, go see what the address on this house is," she ordered. Kukai ran out the front door and came back in a few moments. He recited some numbers to Utau, and she told them to whoever was on the other end of the phone. After a few more moments, she hung up.

"I ordered pizza. It should be here in less than an hour," she stated.

**A/N: This was a fun chapter to write. I managed to put Rimahiko, Amuto and Kutau all in the same chapter! And even some kukaya, for those of you that are fans of that (I prefer kutau). **

** Okay, so do you guys want more or less fluff? I'm not very good at writing it, I realize, but the more I practice the better I get! Tell me what you think? More? Less? About the same? I want to know!**


	13. Day Seven, Part Two

**A/N: In the first part of this, Utau and Kukai are calling each other by their nicknames. We've already established that they're on a first-name basis, however, and this is just for the effect of the scene. You'll notice that at the end of the scene, he's no longer teasing, and uses her real name. Just some clarification, in case you wonder.**

**I want to give a huge thanks to Shadow Host for giving me all sorts of wonderful ideas for this story!**

The Million Dollar Bet

Day Seven, Part Two

Kukai walked into the downstairs living room to find a most shocking sight. It was Utau, sitting on the sofa, reading a thick book with a dark binding that looked a lot like a dictionary.

Now, Kukai didn't know Utau to be one for reading, let alone the kind of big, boring-looking book that was in her hands, and immediately felt his curiosity spark. What could be so interesting about that book that it had the idol entranced and reading like a nerd? Well, a very pretty nerd, but a nerd all the same. Kukai wanted to know what it was, and something told him Utau wouldn't say that easily. But at least he could try.

"Hey, what're you reading, Idol-san?" he asked, walking to her. She glanced at him briefly, and went back to reading.

"Nothing important," she stated.

"Sure, you're reading a book the size of a dictionary, and say it's not important. If I'm not mistaken, you're not much of a reader in the first place..."

"Why do you want to know?"

"I'm just curious. What could that book be that important enough for Idol-san to read it?" he asked. She ignored him. A few moments passed in silence. "And on top of it, she's ignoring me for the book." Utau closed the large volume, keeping a finger in her place.

"So you think you're that important? That's pretty arrogant, Ramen Boy," she pointed out.

"What's the book?"

"You don't want to know," stated Utau. Kukai grinned.

"Yes, I do," he countered, "And why are you making such a big deal out of it? It's just a boo--" she held the book up to his face, the title screaming out at him like a giant warning sign.

"Are you happy now?"

"A book on hypnotism? Utau, are you sure that's a good idea?" Kukai looked slightly frightened.

"And why _not?_"

"It's dangerous..."

"And fighting X-eggs isn't?"

"That's different. What if you hypnotize someone and do it wrong? They could be scarred for life. Someone could get hurt."

"Are you doubting my capability? This book is very specific."

"Well..."

**~In the girls room~**

"Do we _have_ to?" Amu asked. Yaya nodded enthusiastically. Amu put on her 'Cools&Spicy' act. "Fine, but I'm not wearing the pink one."

"But Amu-chii!" Yaya exlcaimed, "That one looks best on you! And these one are two small," she pointed towards a pile of ballgowns. There were at least 15 total, and they had been separated into groups. The girls had found them in the attic, and the Joker and Ace had dragged them down into the bedroom. Rima was still sick, and had not been able to assist. It wasn't likely that she would have, even if she hadn't had a cold. But there was no way she was going to be able to get out of wearing one of the fancy things.

"Yaya wants to wear this one!" exclaimed the youngest girl, picking up a light blue dress with a very large skirt.

"What are you planning to do when you have those dresses on?" Rima asked, presenting a flaw in Yaya's plan. She thought about it for a moment, before coming up with a response.

"Yaya wants to have a masquerade ball!"

"No way!" Amu waved her hands in front of her, looking very nervous.

"But we can still play dress-up!" Yaya squeaked happily. "OOH! Yaya and Rima-tan and Amu-chii should all go to dinner in the dresses!" She picked up a pink gown and shoved it at Amu.

"I thought I said I wasn't going to--"

"You _would_ look best in that one," Rima interrupted, sneezing. Amu sighed and picked up the dress, heading into the bathroom to change. Yaya scanned the rest of the gowns, contemplating which one to force Rima into.

"Which one does Rima-tan want to wear?"

"Umm..." she slid off her seat on her bed and walked over to where the fancy garments were laid out. Yaya looked over them and picked up a purple dress the color Nagi's hair. Rima fought the blush she could feel creeping up her cheeks. Thankfully, Yaya was pretty clueless.

"This looks like it would fit Rima-tan!"

"Well... o-okay," she took it from Yaya and looked at it closely. It was full-length: all of them were. It _did_ look like something someone would wear to a masquerade.

The door to the bathroom opened, and Amu came out dressed in the pink gown that matched her hair. It was equally as fancy as the one Yaya had chosen for Rima.

"It comes way too low!" exclaimed the pinkette, trying to pull the dress higher over her chest. It _ was_ really low.

"It doesn't matter, Amu-chan. Ikuto's not in here, so we're fine," Rima stated. Amu stopped her useless efforts.

"Amu-chii is so pretty!" Yaya squealed, jumping up and down. "I think we should go to dinner in the dresses!" They ignored her, as Rima walked into the bathroom with her gown.

It was only a little bit hard to get on, and thankfully, didn't come down too low on her chest. In fact, it seemed to fit her rather well, which was surprising, considering her size.

Rima went back out of the bathroom and stood in front of her friends, who were awing over her cuteness. She was thankful that the charas weren't there to make the situation even worse by insisting that they take pictures or something.

Yaya changed into the light blue dress that she had picked out, but it turned out to be too big. She went through several dresses before finding one that fit her right. By this time, it was already nearly six o'clock, and they were all hungry.

The door opened, and in walked everyone's favorite cat-boy. Predictably, Amu screeched and blushed like there was no tomorrow. Because, if that was the case, and the world was to end before tomorrow, Amu would _really_ need to have one last good blush.

"I just came to tell you that dinner's ready," Ikuto said, wondering what the fuss was about. It took a moment for him to realize what the situation was, and he chuckled. "Don't worry, Amu, you're almost completely flat-chested, anyway." And with that, he walked out of the room. Amu looked like she was going to explode.

"Do we have time to change?" Rima asked, then answered her own question, "Probably not. Amu, just put a sweater on over that and you won't have to worry about anything."

"Thank you, Rima-chan!" she ran to get a sweater.

"Hurray! Yaya gets to go to dinner wearing a fancy dress!" Yaya yelled.

Rima felt ridiculous walking into the kitchen wearing a ballgown. Apparently, the three of them _looked_ ridiculous, too, because Utau took out her cellphone, and there was a _snap_ noise that signaled a picture had been taken.

"We didn't have time to change," Amu said, assuming her 'Cool&Spicy' act once again, which seemed somewhat unreasonable in her frilly attire.

At that moment, all the charas floated into the room, looking tired and dirty. Well, all except Kiseki. He looked perfectly fine. "After dinner we'll have a meeting about our plans for the finishing of our project!" he proclaimed.

"But it's only three feet deep ~nya," Yoru pointed out.

"What are you guys up to, anyway?" Kukai asked. The charas refused to reveal anything, except that it was Kiseki's new plan for world domination.

Tadase had made dinner, with the 'help' of Ikuto, who had sat there the whole time doing practically nothing. It hadn't taken too much effort, anyway, since they were only eating macaroni and cheese. The blobs of orange noodles on everyone's plates had a sort of pitiful appearance about them.

Dinner, however, was not as awkward as it had been the past few days. Probably because the dark aura around Rima was gone, and the tension had lessened considerably. Eventually, Utau brought up the subject of something that needed to be done.

"Someone has to do the laundry, sooner or later. We need someone to do it tomorrow," she said. There was silence. "So do I have any volunteers?" More silence.

"I'll do it," Nagihiko said, kindly. Utau grinned.

"Is anyone going to help him?"

No answer.

"Alright, I volunteer Rima," said Utau, evilly.

**~After dinner (the girls have changed out of their dresses)~**

_Squeeeeeeee,_ creaked the porch swing on the front porch as Rima pushed herself back and forth, a grin adorning her face. It was that time of day when the shadows are just getting long, and the evening sunlight pouring through the trees made their edges light up, and individual leaves glowing an almost-golden color.

She was happy: happier that she had been in a long time. Even happier than she'd been when she'd had her epiphany. She had been pretty sure that Nagihiko at least had a crush on her. But it was more than that: _so_ much more.

Rima was so intent on her thoughts that she had forgotten about the brand new gag-Manga on her lap. So when the swing went backward, and the book fell to the ground, she was startled, and hopped up to get it. When she seated herself again, the Queen's Chair let herself become lost in the heavenly pages of comedy.

Nagihiko walked outside, and upon stepping onto the front porch, saw a goddess. That of comedy, sitting on the porch swing, slowly rocking back in forth, completely lost in her own world of gags and other such funny things. Her beautiful face was lit up like someone had turned a switch, and that typical stern look changed instantly into the smiling, giggling wonder before him.

Nagi couldn't help but smile himself, watching Rima in her shining state. In complete absence of thought, he just stood there, enraptured with the sight of the beautiful girl, not wanting to disturb her in her happy moment. Just looking at her like that made him happy.

Rima looked up from her manga, and her eyes met Nagihiko's. Her smile didn't fade. Nagihiko sat on the swing next to her.

"Hey, Rima," he greeted.

"N-Nagi..." she felt a blush creeping up her cheeks. "The window is right there. Someone's going to see you sitting out here next to me and start to wonder."

"Okay. I'll meet you in the back, then," he said, walking off the porch and around the house. Rima set her gag-Manga on the swing and waited a few minutes before following him.

"So what did you want?" she asked when she found Nagihiko sitting on the grass, leaning on the back wall of the house. He shrugged.

"I just wanted to see you,"was his reply. Rima positioned herself next to him.

"It wasn't like I was invisible inside," she said.

"That's not what I meant," he frowned. Rima sneezed. "You're still sick. You shouldn't have been outside last night with wet ha--"

"No, you're glad I was," she contradicted, grabbing his arm and hugging it to her. Smiling, Nagihiko pressed his forehead against hers, looking straight into her eyes.

"Is it okay with you if I..." he trailed off. Rima's smile grew and she and wrapped her arms around his neck, placing her mouth lightly against his.

"Any time," she said when she pulled away. Nagihiko looked slightly stunned at first, and then he kissed her in return. After a few moments, Rima drew back. "You're going to catch my cold," she told him sternly.

**~Later, in the girls room~**

All four girls were sitting in a circle on the floor, playing a very dull game of _Cheat_. No one was calling "cheat" on anyone, so it was pretty much just taking turns putting cards in the middle of a circle. How much more fun could things get? Sarcasm intended, in case you didn't notice.

In the midst of this exciting, action-packed game (once again, sarcasm, please), a conversation came up. It started when Utau brought up the topic of what had happened earlier that day when Yaya had tried coffee. The effect of the caffeine still hadn't completely worn off on the hyper little girl.

"So, Yaya had her first kiss today," Utau said. Everyone's gaze turned toward said candy-lover.

"No, Yaya didn't!"

"Then _what_ do you call what you did to Kukai?" spat Utau vehemently.

"Jealous, now, are we?" Rima asked quietly.

"That's not what Yaya means."

"What are you talking about? I think that coffee is having some side-effects," said Amu. Yaya shook her head solemnly.

"No, Yaya means Yaya didn't have her first kiss today."

"I think we're all confused," stated Rima.

"You _did_ kiss Kukai, even if you don't remember it," Utau pointed out.

"Do you think Yaya would give away her first kiss just like that?! _That wasn't Yaya's first kiss!_"

"Umm... are you saying that you possibly have..." Amu flushed red.

"Who was it?" Utau asked. She crossed her arms.

"Yaya's not telling! It's Yaya's secret!"

"Could it be possible... Yaya was kissed before any of us?" Amu asked.

"Are you kidding me?" Utau scoffed, "I kissed Ikuto so long ago I don't even remember."

"What about Amu-chii and Rima-tan?" Yaya asked excitedly. They each turned their respective shades of red, Amu's much darker than Rima's.

"I n-n-never had m-m-my first ki-kiss," stuttered the beat-red Amu. Only the youngest of the other three girls believed her. Getting an idea, Utau decided to have a little bit of fun making Rima squirm.

"Rima-chan, you heard Yaya, when was your first kiss?" she asked, smirking uncannily like her brother. Said blond chibi turned her head and thought over her answer for a moment. She could flat-out lie, and they might believe her. But Utau would probably only make things even more uncomfortable. Another option was to tell the truth. How would that go over? She didn't want to know. So Rima was led to the third choice that came to her mind: tell a half-truth. If she did it right, and maybe with a bit of luck, even Utau would believe it.

"A while ago," she replied. Yaya and Amu looked shocked, dropping their cards. It _was_ true: a few days ago was a while ago.

"Who was it?" Utau asked. Rima glared.

"That's none of your business!"

"Okay," Utau replied, shocking her. Setting down her cards, the idol picked a thick book off the floor and climbed into her bed.

Shocking things never ceased to happen around here.

**A/N: heh... heh... sorry this took so long to get out. I've been busy... being lazy. Well, I have this huge project I was working on for school, so I'll just blame it on that! Yeah... I'll blame it on that. Heheheh. And this is really not a very good chapter, either. The next chapter will be funnier, hopefully. And I really haven't been in a mood for writing fluff... although a lot of you requested more of it. So, I tried my best, but it didn't turn out as well as I hoped.**

** Please review! It makes me so happy and makes me want to write more.**


	14. Day Eight, Part One

**A/N: Here's some amuto for you. Of course, I just can't help but write rimahiko, because I absolutely love them! I hope you find this chapter very funny.**

**I got this one out really fast. Hurray! See all the good reviewing did? Just keep it up!**

**Once again, a huge thanks to Shadow Host for all the wonderful ideas! This chapter will be based on one of them.**

The Million Dollar Bet

Day Eight, Part One

"_What?!"_ Amu exclaimed, turning much redder than usual. But this time, it was mostly out of anger, and not so much embarrassment.

"Sorry, Amu, that's what we decided," Utau said. "*Dai Hin Min obeys Dai Fugo for the rest of the day."

"But that's not fair! There's no way I'm going to be a slave to that Baka-hentai-cosplay-neko!"

"Now, now, my little strawberry; nobody likes a sore loser," said Ikuto, smirking. He was already getting a kick out of this.

"But—but—he's—I can't—no way!" Amu stuttered, turning to each of her friends in desperation. "Rima-chan? Tadase? Nagi? Kukai?... Yaya?" Tadase was the only one that sided with her.

"This is going to be very entertaining," Utau said, looking devious.

"I will give you your first command now," announced Ikuto.

"Eeeeep!" squeaked Amu. Ikuto's smirk grew.

"Go make lunch."

"What?"

"See? I'm not being evil. Amu, you really are a pervert, thinking I would make you do something awful."

Amu rose from the circle they were all sitting in walked into the kitchen. Ikuto followed her, describing exactly what he wanted to eat. When she chara-changed with Suu, the whole thing went a lot faster.

Within an hour, there was a very fancy meal that consisted mostly of several kinds of fish cooked in different ways set on the table. Ikuto was happy, and Amu was fuming, although she was pleased with herself for having made all that food.

After lunch, everyone gathered in the living room to watch Ikuto order Amu around. He would give her really random things to do, some of them which she was incapable of. It was very amusing, especially when the pinkette reacted dramatically to each order and put up a huge protest before doing it. After a while, she started obeying without much of a fight. Ikuto used this to his advantage.

"Alright, now kiss me," he ordered. Amu turned a brighter shade of red than anyone had previously thought humanly possible.

"W-w-wh-what?!" she yelled. He grinned evilly. Amu pecked him on the cheek, at which Ikuto frowned.

"Not like that, like this," he clutched her jaw, and pressed his lips firmly against hers. Everyone watched in shock as Amu's arms wound themselves around his neck, and she didn't pull back for quite a while. In fact, she actually looked somewhat pleased.

Surprisingly, Ikuto ended it. Then he smiled. It was a real smile unlike most of them had ever seen him do before. But it quickly changed back to his trademark smirk.

"Now admit you're a pervert," he told her.

"I'm a—hey, wait! No I'm not!"

"Say it. It's only three words."

"But I'm not!"

"No? You sure seemed to enjoy that kiss."

"N-n-no! I h-hated it!"

"Really?"

"Yes!"

"Say it."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No."

"Yes."

"No.  
"Yes."

"No!"

"No."

"Yes!"

"No."

"Yes!"

"Okay." Ikuto looked very pleased with himself. Amu turned in the other direction, ashamed of being tricked so easily.

"No!"

"Well, then, I guess I've had a change of heart."

"Really?"

"Yes. You have to _write it_ at least _100 times!_"

Everyone went off to do something else, while Ikuto sat on the couch, watching Amu write the single sentence over and over again. The whole while, she muttered under her breath, "Baka baka-hentai-cosplay-neko," or some other such thing, sometimes something about getting revenge. After a while, she gave up such indulgences, and just muttered the sentence as she wrote it.

_I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert. I am a pervert._

"Finally!" Amu yelled, standing up quickly. She snatched the paper up and started to tear it, but Ikuto stopped her.

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you. If you destroy it, I'll make you write it all over again."

"Kyaaaa!" She dropped the paper in disgust, as if it was some poisonous snake. Ikuto burst out laughing, something that didn't happen very often.

**~Upstairs~**

Utau, Kukai, and Yaya were all watching a movie: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Surprisingly, Yaya had never seen it before. Kukai and Utau decided to watch it with her because, frankly, they had nothing better to do. Amu was downstairs being ordered around by Ikuto, and Nagihiko and Rima were doing the laundry, because they had been picked to do it the day before.

Yaya got really excited as soon as she saw the beginning credits of the movie, which pictured all sorts of candies being made. She was even drooling a little bit. Throughout the whole thing, Yaya's eyes didn't stray from the screen.

Utau got bored, and was yawning because she had stayed up the night before reading that book on hypnotism. Which, by the way, she planned to use later.

Kukai was bored, too, but didn't say anything. He held back a snicker when Yaya started singing along with the songs.

"Oh, the candy man can! Yes, the candy man can because he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good!" she sang. Utau grinned, thinking Yaya was more amusing than the movie. Besides, singing that song just seemed so _right_ for the hyper little girl.

Even with Yaya's excited singing, Utau was dozing off. It was one of those times where you really have no control, and you're eyes just droop shut, no matter your efforts to keep them open. And the next thing Utau knew, she was asleep, completely unaware of her position.

Kukai, however, _did_ notice Utau's position. Suddenly, a weight dropped onto his shoulder, and he turned to see a blond head with two pigtails resting there. Her eyes were closed, and she very much appeared to be sleeping. In a moment of awkwardness, Kukai wondered what to do. It's not every day that an idol falls asleep on your shoulder. Even if he _was_ on very good terms with her: no-honorific-terms, in fact. Actually, he'd even kissed her a few times.

With these thoughts in mind, Kukai came to a conclusion on what to do: nothing. Just let her sleep. He grinned, and rested his head on top of hers in a surprisingly comfortable position.

**~Meanwhile~**

"Why do _we_ have to do the laundry?" Rima pouted. Nagihiko smiled.

"I volunteered, remember? And Utau volunteered you," he stated.

"Why do we have to do it?"

"Why not? We can help out, and it might be fun," he was still grinning at her in that charming way. Darn that kira-kira face of his. Rima melted.

"Fine," she said, still with a stern pout.

"C'mon, Rima-chan, someone has to do it," he grabbed her hand and began walking down the hall toward the laundry room. His fingers slid between hers, and she felt her heart pounding in her chest. She was still amazed at how he could affect her like that.

They reached the laundry room and Nagi let go of Rima's hand, much to her disappointment, though she probably wouldn't have admitted it. He opened the dryer and pulled a bunch of towels and such into a laundry basket. He dragged that to the center of the room, moved the stuff from the washer to the dryer, and started a new load.

"If you're going to do it all, why do you need me here?" she asked. He sat down in front of the laundry basket and motioned for her to do the same. She sat on the opposite side of it.

"We have to fold these clean things," he said, picking up a towel and neatly folding it. He set it aside, and reached for another. Rima attempted to copy his folding, but it was no good. She growled and muttered under her breath as she tried to bend the towel to her will. After a few moments of frustration, Nagi noticed and began to laugh.

"Shut up," muttered Rima. "If you expect me to do this, you should at least show me how to do it."

"Of course, _Rima-koi_," he said teasingly.

"Why'd you call me that? It's embarrassing."

"Because you're my girlfriend," he replied. Rima glared, and threw the towel at him. It landed on his head, covering his face. He laughed again and took it off. "Well, I was going to show you… but if you want it that way," he picked up one of the folded towels and tossed it at her.

It landed on her head and tumbled to the floor behind her. She grabbed it and chucked it back, getting to her feet. Both of them were grinning widely.

Rima missed Nagi, but his aim wasn't as bad. Within moments, a full-blown laundry fight had broken out, and both were laughing as they threw towels at each other, moving around the room to dodge the attacks. It was a bit like an inside snowball fight.

Since their charas weren't there, Rhythm couldn't chara-change to make Nagi do anything impulsive, which he probably would have done if he _had_ been there.

Dodging a towel being thrown at her, Rima tripped over the laundry basket lying in the middle of the room, landing with an "_oof_!" on her back. Nagi, who'd been chasing her, also tripped, and landed on top of her, though he managed not to hurt her in the process. I've got you now, _Rima-koi_," he said in the same teasing voice that had gotten them into this position in the first place. Rima, still giggling, looked right up into his eyes.

"So you do, _Nagi-koi_," she teased, playing along. And with that, she lifted herself on her elbows and kissed him.

_Beep, beep, beep,_ the dryer rang, breaking the couple apart. Nagihiko grinned at her, and got up to get the laundry out of the dryer. Rima sat up and began to attempt folding the towels, once again.

**~Later on~**

_Achoo!_ Rima looked half worried and half annoyed. Yaya and Amu looked surprised. Although the petite blond was completely over the sniffles she'd had the day before, Nagihiko seemed to now be having a similar problem. She had warned him that he would catch it from her…

"Nagi, did you get a cold, too?" Amu asked.

"Maybe Nagi got it from Rima-tan!" Yaya said.

"How could that happen? Everyone knows those two stay away from each other like negative magnets," Amu protested.

"It's rude to talk about people in the room like they aren't there," Rima pointed out, her nose in the air.

"It's okay, minna, there's a cold going around, I think," said Nagihiko.

"Amu, come here!" a deep voice called from the other room. Amu hung her head and trudged away, preparing herself to face the cruel and unusual punishment she was receiving for ending up as _Dai Hin Min_.

"Yaya wants to watch Amu do funny things!" she walked after Amu.

Nagihiko sneezed.

"I told you that you would get sick," said Rima.

"Hey! I never said 'I told you so' when _you_ got sick!" he retorted. There was a short silence, but it wasn't awkward. "This kitchen needs to be swept," he eventually stated, getting up from his seat on the barstool. Rima glared at him.

"You're not going to do it," she stated. Nagi looked surprised.

"Why?"

"Because you're sick. And you cooked when it was my turn since I was sick, so I'll do it."

"Really?"

"Do you think I can't do it? It's just sweeping!"

"Okay, Rima-chan, if you really want to," he said.

Rima walked into the pantry and grabbed the broom. It was only about half a foot shorter than she was. This made it hard for her to handle. So when she attempted to sweep with the large object, it appeared quite like she was dancing with it.

After a few minutes, Nagihiko burst out laughing. Rima stopped and glared at him. "What are you laughing at, _Fujisaki_?"

"I'm sorry, Rima-chan, but I think you need a taller dancing partner. The broom is too short, even for you," he said, sneezing. Rima, who hadn't been meaning to dance with the broom in the first place, decided to play along.

"This broom is perfectly fine," she sniffed.

"Gomen, Rima, really, you two don't make a very good couple. And he's rather stiff."

"There's nothing wrong with my broom!" Rima cried, suddenly becoming defensive.

"Aww, Rima loves the broom! But I'm afraid your new boyfriend is rather unresponsive," teased Nagi.

"Are you jealous?" Rima countered, as Nagihiko's face turned red.

"Sure. Yeah, I'm jealous!"

"Nagi is jealous of a broom! He's that helpless…"

"Hey, you're the one dancing with it," he replied. Amu walked into the kitchen, looking very tired and annoyed. She began searching for something in the refrigerator.

"Konichiwa, Nagi and Rima-chan," she said, closing the refrigerator and opening a cabinet.

"Amu-chan, meet Rima-chan's new boyfriend: the broom," said Nagihiko. Amu glanced at Rima, who was still clutching the broom, and giving Nagi a death-glare.

"Okay, if you insist. But you don't make a very cute couple," she declared, giggling. Rima's glare turned to Amu, who stopped laughing. She picked up a can of something, and opened it.

"Do you guys know how to make a tuna sandwich?"

**A/N: I had lots of fun writing this chapter. In fact, it's one of my favorites. Any requests for commands Ikuto can give Amu are eagerly welcomed and greatly appreciated! Please PM them to me, however, so as not to spoil a surprise if I decide to use them.**

***Dai-Hin-Min/Dai-Fugo: In case you don't know what this is. It is a card game that involves rankings: Dai-Fugo being very rich man, and Dai-Hin-Min meaning very poor man. In some variations of the game, Dai-Hin-Min is required to obey Dai-Fugo. So as a very simple explanation: Ikuto won, and Amu lost, so she has to do whatever he says for a day. A huge thanks to Shadow Host for this idea!**

**Review, onegai!**


	15. Day Eight, Part Two

**A/N: Sorry for the late update… haha, that rhymed! I've been writing a lot of poetry lately… I'm really sorry for how late this is. I've had all these other ideas that needed to be written. And then there were finals at school, and I'm starting drivers ed., and the Anime Oasis cosplay convention is this weekend, and I went to the first two days of it. It was really fun and there were a lot of awesome costumes. I wore my sailor school girl uniform, and my little sister dressed as Yaya… without the cape. But besides that detail, the likeness was incredible.**

**I've also been really stressed lately. You know how sometimes you write something when you were meaning to write something else? Well, I just noticed I did that when I was opening this file up to finish it. I usually save each chapter as "fourteenth chapter", etc. But, when I should have saved this as "fifteenth chapter", I saved it as "fifteenth problem". Wow, I'm so glad school is over. Now there's not so many things to stress over and make me do things like that.**

**Anyway, I'm really sorry for how long this took me. I've got a busy summer ahead of me, too. Well, at least school is out now, so I don't have that taking up most of my time! But I think I might be getting sick…**

**I'm also sorry for this incredibly long author's note. And gommenesai if this chapter is a bit cliché. Gomen.**

The Million Dollar Bet

Day Eight, Part Two

"I'm bored," stated Rima. "Why did we stop filming the movie?"

"The camera disappeared," Utau explained. "No one knows where the heck it went."

"Oh." Rima said.

"Yaya has an idea!"

"What is it, Yaya?" Amu asked, ready to do anything that wasn't an order from Ikuto.

"Yaya wants to play a game outside. But we have to play it Yaya's way!"

"Okay, sure!" Amu jumped toward the door.

"I'll play," Nagihiko said. Everyone agreed and headed out the door.

"So what are we playing?" Kukai asked, when they were all gathered in the front yard.

"Dead man," stated Yaya. No one looked interested. "But it's really fun Yaya's way!"

"Explain," demanded Utau.

"We have to do it from beginning to end. Including the funeral. So we get to make up how the person died, and…" she began explaining it. It was decided to give the game a try.

"Who's going first?" Rima asked.

"Amu," Ikuto said.

"What? Why me?" Amu almost wailed.

"Lay down here," Yaya said. Amu did as she was told. This did _not_ look like it would turn out very well.

Tadase ran into the house and came back out with a bunch of blankets, which were placed over Amu so she was completely covered. Everyone besides the pinkette held a meeting, deciding on her fate. Eventually, they came up with something they liked, and started the funeral. Yaya had insisted on being the preacher.

"Here lies Tsukiyomi Amu," she began. Amu sat up.

"WHAT?" she yelled, crossing her arms. "I refuse to die under that name!"

"I command you to cooperate," Ikuto told her in a bored tone.

"You're supposed to be dead, remember?" Rima reminded.

"You only come alive on the count of five!" Yaya added. Groaning, Amu lay back down, and pulled the blankets over her head again.

"Continue," Utau said.

"Here lies Tsukiyomi Amu. She died from blushing too hard. But, in the process, she _did_ manage to break the world record for the reddest blush. Now we will try to wake her up. Okay, ready?" Yaya began to dance around Amu, and everyone followed her.

"Dead man, dead man, come alive, before I count to the number five. One, two, three, four, five, come alive!" They chanted. Well, Yaya was the only one enthusiastic enough about the game to chant the rhyme, but it still did the trick.

Amu stood up, and stretched her arms out as she began to chase people with her eyes closed. Yaya was caught. The process was repeated.

"Here lies Fujisaki Yaya," Utau said, smirking evilly. Rima was trying to keep her calm, and Nagihiko was having more fun watching Rima than the mock funeral. No one else really seemed to notice. "Yaya died of diabetes after eating _way_ too much candy. Since she was the only one who wanted to sing the song, who's going to do it this time?" No one answered.

"I guess I will," Tadase volunteered. When Yaya had been woken, she caught Rima.

"I'm getting bored," Rima stated. "Let's do something else."

"The sun's going down, too," Amu said, "It's going to be dark soon."

"There's a game me and my brothers used to play when it was dark," Kukai said. It was really fun, but kind of stupid. We called it 'Dinosaur in the Dark'."

"How do we play?" Tadase asked.

"One person is the dinosaur, and everyone else are the people. Everyone has a gun, like this," he clapped his hands together in the imitation of a pistol. "We set up a course around the house of objects that the people have to touch. They walk in a line, each circle around the house is a round, and each round you get three bullets. Your ammunition is refreshed by touching all the objects. If you don't touch the objects, you don't have any ammunition.

"The person that is the dinosaur has thirty seconds to hide somewhere along the route that the people take around the house. Then everyone starts the course. The dinosaur can jump out at any time they please, and if they tag one of the people, they become a dinosaur, too. If someone shoots the dinosaur, by pointing at it and saying "bang, bang, bang," then the dinosaur is frozen for ten seconds and everyone can run."

"Sounds like fun," Ikuto said. "Amu, I elect you to be the dinosaur." It was nearly dark by this time.

"Yaya doesn't think it sounds like fun! Yaya thinks it sounds scary!"

"Yaya, you can be in the middle of the line of people, that way you're less likely to get tagged," Kukai said. Yaya nodded. Then they set up the course of objects to touch as they circled the house. "Since Amu has been volunteered to be the dinosaur, she gets thirty seconds to go and hide. One… two… three…" Amu ran off. "I'll be at the front of the line, Tsukiyomi at the back. Fujisaki behind me and Hotori in front of Tsukiyomi. The girls will stay in the middle."

"I will not!" protested Utau. Kukai reconsidered his strategy and placed her between Ikuto and Tadase.

"So, in order," Nagihiko began, "It will be Souma-kun, me, Rima-chan, Yaya-chan, Hotori-kun, then the Tsukiyomis?"

"Yeah," Kukai gave him a thumb-up, and everyone got into the line in the order they planned, since no one had objections to their placements.

By this time, the sun had vanished entirely, and it was very dark. However, without flashlights, everyone's eyes had adjusted to the dark, and it wasn't that bad. Besides the fact that Rima, Yaya, and Tadase all had very nervous looks on their faces. Yaya was the only one that couldn't seem to keep her cool.

As they rounded the house, touching the places they had set beforehand, Amu didn't appear. It wasn't until the second time that they rounded the house that she showed herself.

Before anyone noticed her, she caught Ikuto, although it wasn't unlikely he'd been meaning that to happen. Utau spotted her and felt silly as she pointed her fingers toward the pinkette and yelled, "Bang, bang, bang!"

Chaos ensued as everyone ran away, trying to make good use of the ten seconds the 'dinosaur' would be frozen. They all met in front of the porch, with the exception of Amu and Ikuto.

On the second round, Rima and Yaya were recruited to the 'dinosaur' ranks. "Where's Ikuto?" Yaya asked Amu.

"I don't know," she replied, "He disappeared. So it's just the three of us."

"Now what?" asked Rima.

"We hide."

"If we stay hidden for several rounds, we'll scare them," Rima mused.

"Good idea. Let's hide behind those hedges over there," Amu agreed. The girls snuck behind the bushes and sat there, listening. They heard the group come around the house once, twice… then ten minutes passed with barely any noise but the occasional hooting of an owl, the constant chirping of crickets, the water of the stream trickling a ways away, and some frogs croaking.

"What's taking them so long?" Amu muttered.

"Amu-chii! Rima-tan! Yaya is scared!" she grabbed Amu's arm, and Rima took hold of the other as the three girls huddled together.

A rustling sound in the hedges a ways off didn't help their fear any. "What was that?" Amu's eyes widened. Rima clenched her eyes shut and squeezed Amu's arm tighter.

"Yaya's so scared," whispered Yaya, "Yaya wishes we hadn't played this game."

"I-it's not s-scary," Amu tried to regain her 'cooln'spicy' attitude. There is no need to say that she failed miserable, being just as frightened as her friends.

"Should we go look for them?" Rima asked, clenching Amu's arm a little bit _too_ tightly.

"I th-think that m-might be a good idea," stuttered Amu, rising to her feet. The other two girls didn't let go as she did, and stayed latched onto her as they walked out from behind the hedges.

Silence. The bushes rustled again, and a dark shadow emerged. Amu, Rima, and Yaya were frozen to their places as they watched the figure move toward them.

As it got closer, they noticed it wasn't very tall… and it had light hair. Rima was the first to come out of her stupor and realize what—or rather, _who_—the shadow was. She let go of Amu and tagged him.

Tadase, not expecting the girls to do anything, and being just as frightened as them, was scared half out of his senses when Rima tagged him.

He screamed.

As a result of it, it started a chain reaction, scaring Yaya and Amu, who also screamed. Rima was the only one among the group not shrieking at the top of her lungs.

Suddenly, Tadase stopped abruptly, as if something was preventing any noise from escaping his lips. It took a moment afterward for Amu and Yaya to calm down. Rima watched in amusement as Tadase tried to pry the hand covering his mouth off.

"Don't scream like that, Kiddy-king. You're already girly enough as it is." Ikuto's smooth voice emanated from the shadow that kept Tadase captive. He let go.

"You filthy black cat of misfortune!"

"Shush!" he reminded him, "There's no need to yell."

"I-Ikuto!" Amu exclaimed, a little bit late. Silence ensued. Ikuto flicked the blushing (although you couldn't see it in the dark) Amu on the forehead. She screeched, once again, having not anticipated it. She kept on screaming, and the catboy disappeared.

When Amu ran out of breath, she stopped screaming, and rapid footsteps running toward them became audible. Nagihiko, Kukai, and Utau came running around the house and stopped in front of them.

"What's going on?" Utau demanded.

"Did something attack you?" Kukai asked.

"Are you alright?" added Nagihiko with concern on his face.

"Amu and Tadase were taking turns screaming uselessly," Rima explained.

"I-it was n-not useless!" cried Amu.

"Since when is Ikuto flicking you on the forehead a good cause for screaming?" protested Rima.

"You were scared, too, Rima-tan," Yaya pointed out.

"Not when I realized it was just Tadase," she scoffed.

"B-but it was Ikuto t-too!"

"Since when has _he_ scared you?"

"Why was Tadase away from your group, anyway?" Amu asked, ignoring Rima's question.

"Haha, you should have seen it!" Kukai laughed. "He was staring off into space with this terrified look, and Utau tapped him to get his attention. He ran so fast you could barely see it!"

"No, you could barely see it because it was dark," Utau corrected.

"Yaya wants to go inside!"

"That's a good idea. I want to try something." If it had been lighter, everyone might have been intimidated by the smirk on Utau's face that was almost identical to her brother's.

**~Inside~**

Utau had everyone sit in the living room downstairs, and Ikuto showed up again. She had yet to tell them what her idea was.

"So why are we all in here, Utau?" asked Kukai, although he had a feeling he already knew.

The idol held up the big book she'd been reading the day before and a mischievous glint shone in her eyes. "I need some volunteers."

"To do what?" Rima asked.

"Be hypnotized."

"I volunteer Amu!" Ikuto said, smirking. Of course, Amu protested.

"No way!"

"I order you to give Utau your complete cooperation."

"Who else?"

"Yaya wants to!" Yaya yelled.

"How about Tadase?"

"No thanks."

"Nagi?"

"Well… it isn't very safe. I think I'll watch."

"Kukai?" Utau had a demanding look.

"Uhh… sure!" he grinned, but it wavered.

"Anyone else?" No one replied. "Okay, those participating will sit in a semi-circle so I can do this to all of you at the same time."

To the audience's surprise, Utau had them all in a deep-sleep state within fifteen minutes. She was giving them all sorts of odd thoughts, which they would react to in various ways.

"Okay, now you're going back in time… you're all in kindergarten. We're going to sing the Barney song, okay? No on the count of three, you'll open your eyes and I will be your teacher. Ready? One, two, three!"

Yaya raised her hand. "I'm not allowed to watch Barney!" she complained. Utau frowned.

"Well, this will be okay, we're only going to sing the song."

"Oh, okay!" Yaya smiled cheerfully. Everyone launched into a chorus of that dreadful song…

"No go back to sleep again," Utau commanded when they had finished. Amu, Yaya and Kukai's heads dropped like their necks had been snapped. "Now I'm going to count to three. On the count of three, you will open your eyes and propose to the first thing you see. Okay? Now one, two three!"

Kukai's eyes opened, and the first thing he saw was the sofa. He was quite upset when it didn't respond.

Yaya's eyes opened and the first thing she saw was Tadase, who didn't know how to respond. Yaya pleaded and pleaded for him to marry her, but the only reply was, "Uhhh… Yuiki-san? Are you feeling alright?"

Amu opened her eyes and saw… the broom. And not just any broom: it was _Rima's_ broom, the one she'd been 'dancing' with earlier. Actually, no one really knew why it was in the living room, but it was. Amu proposed to it.

"Rima-chan," Nagi nudged her, "Your broom is cheating on you." She glared.

"Shut up."

"Is Rima-chan _jealous_?"

"I told you to shut up!"

"Ikuto is jealous, too, so you're not alone," he whispered. Rima laughed out loud when she noticed the catboy glaring at the cleaning tool. Then she stopped abruptly.

"Ikuto must really love her to be jealous of a broom," she told Nagihiko quietly. He nodded, frowning.

"It's too bad Amu doesn't reciprocate it."

"Maybe she's just confused… kind of like I was," Rima said. Nagihiko nodded again, then got a spark in his eyes, like when he used to chara-change with Temari, before she disappeared.

"We should do something about it!" he said, a determined look in his eye.

"My thoughts exactly," Rima muttered, also with a gleam in her eye.

**~A while later~**

"Okay, so how do we wake them up?" asked Tadase. Utau started skimming through her book.

"H-have you thought that far?" Ikuto asked, an unnatural stutter in his voice.

"Of course I have!" Utau snapped, quickly. A little too quickly.

"What will you do if you can't wake them up?" asked Rima.

"I'll wake them up!" she spat. Finally, she found what she was looking for. "Amu, Yaya, Kukai: when I count to three, you're going to wake up. You won't remember any of this until tomorrow, when someone says your name. The moment someone says your name tomorrow, everything will come back to you. Got it? Okay, now in order: Amu, Yaya, and Kukai… one, two three!" Their eyes opened.

"What happened?" asked Kukai.

"You were hypnotized. No big deal, was it?"

"That was it?"

"How come Yaya doesn't remember it?" Amu whined. Everyone turned their heads in her direction and stared, jaws hanging open.

"Because you were asleep," Yaya said, using Amu's 'cooln'spicy' tone.

"What the heck happened to _them_?" exclaimed Kukai.

"Amu," Ikuto said, "Stand. I command you." Grumbling, Yaya stood, and Amu remained seated on the floor. "Now sit back down again." Yaya obeyed.

"Yaya," began Rima, catching on, "There's some pocky behind the sofa over there."

Amu jumped up and dove over the couch, yelling, "Yaya loves pocky!"

"We could have a lot of fun with this," Rima muttered. Tadase looked alarmed.

"But how will they get back to their normal selves?"

"Well, I guess when we say their names tomorrow," said Utau.

"I think she said their names out of order," Nagihiko mused, "Because Amu was sitting in the middle, and Utau said 'Amu, Yaya, and Kukai'. So that's probably how they got mixed up."

After at least an hour of messing with the confused Amu and Yaya, everyone was a bit worn out, and decided to go to bed. When the girls got to their room, Amu went to Yaya's bed and pulled out her suitcase, out of which she took Yaya's pajamas.

"What are you doing?" Utau asked.

"Yaya's getting her pajamas!" she picked them up and walked into the bathroom with them. When she came out, she made a rather obvious statement. "They're too small."

"I wonder why _that_ is," Rima said, somewhat sarcastic.

"Maybe Yaya grew!" Amu exclaimed. Yaya walked over to them, wearing Amu's pajamas.

"These are too big," she stated. Suddenly, the charas flew into the room, looking very worn out. Suu floated over to Amu and examined at her attire.

"Amu-chan, what are you wearing ~desu?"

"My pajamas," Yaya replied. This caused a general confusion among all the female charas. Eventually, they were too tired from working on their 'project' that they decided to ignore it and deal with the situation tomorrow.

Rima quickly slipped out of the room and came back a few minutes later. No one else really noticed, so she quietly walked into the bathroom before anyone could ask where she'd been. Picking up her brush, Rima began to run it through her long hair. Kusukusu came over to her, sitting on the counter in front of her owner. She, too, was very tired, having been digging all day.

While Rima brushed her hair, Kusukusu used the sink to try to wash the dirt off her face. After a few moments, something occurred to her. "Rima-chan, where did you go just now?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You left the room and came right back," Kusukusu said, not too tired to wonder. Rima was deep in thought for a moment. She suddenly realized that she'd completely neglected to tell her chara anything that had been going on in her life over the past few days. Sure, it was partly Kusukusu's fault for being absent, but Rima should have told her something as important as _that_. After all, this was her chara. It was safe to tell her, wasn't it?

"I went to hug Nagi goodnight," she admitted. Kusukusu stared at her in disbelief, then rubbed her eyes.

"I'm really tired," she began giggling, "I think I'm hearing things."

"What?"

"Did you just call him 'Nagi'? And you said you went to give him a hug?" she started giggling harder.

"Shh!" Rima shushed her, "It's a secret. You can't let anyone know that we're… ahh, what's the right word?" Kusukusu's face went serious, a rare sight. Then she looked kind of sickly.

"This is a dream, isn't it?"

"No, Kusukusu! It isn't! I'll tell you the whole story someday, but we both need to get to sleep."

"Okay," the chara giggled again, "And everything will be back to normal in the morning, right?"

"Wrong. Why do you seem so apposed to it?"

"I'm not! Actually, I'm really happy that you finally realized that Nagi is perfect for you!"

"You sure don't sound like it."

"Well… if Rhythm knows… it could be sort of awkward."

"Why?" Rima asked, picking up her chara as she began to walk back into the bedroom. Kusukusu's face turned pink, and Rima smirked.

"N-no reason," she giggled.

**A/N: I'm so sorry! I feel really bad that it took me so long to update, and it wasn't even a very good chapter. At least it was longer. Well, I will try to make the next chapter fluffy to make up for this lame, not very funny, and completely fluff-less chapter. And I can honestly say the next chapter will not take as long. I actually have a lot of it written already… I just have to put it together and add some more stuff in.**

**Please review!**


	16. Day Nine

**A/N: Behold! The longest chapter of the Million Dollar Bet yet posted. Here is a lovely, really fluffy fluff-filled chapter for you to make up for the completely fluff-less chapter I posted last time. In fact, I think I doubled it. I hope it's not over-fluffy, but I fear it is.**

**Updates might not be coming as frequently for several reasons, one being that I'm taking a driver's education crash course, and other things that need to get done this summer, and the other reason being that I've pretty much used up all my ideas now. All ideas are welcome! And a thanks to Shadow Host for the idea for part of this chapter.**

**WARNING: Major fluff ahead! No, seriously, this is the fluffiest thing I've ever written (but the rating is not going up. It's staying a very light T). Also, if you don't know what Caramelldansen is, you'd better go look it up on youtube right now.**

The Million Dollar Bet

Day Nine

"Ohayo, Amu-chan," Rima said to Amu the minute she woke up. She really didn't want to have to deal with the whole Yaya/Amu mix-up, so she decided to set things straight right away.

"Huh? Yaya's Yaya, Rima-tan!" Amu replied. Rima face-palmed. Then she realized something: it didn't work. What if Amu never woke up from this? She would be stuck with her best friend as a candy-crazed baby! Or… a candy-crazed baby thinking she was her best friend. Not that there was anything wrong with Yaya, but she really wanted Amu back. Maybe Yaya would be more responsive.

Walking over to Amu's bed, she woke Yaya and greeted her. "Ohayo, Yaya-chan."

"Yaya's over there, Rima-chan," Yaya said, "Are you feeling alright?"

Well, that didn't work, either.

"Utau?" Rima called in desperation. The older girl dropped whatever she was doing and walked to where Rima was trying to deal with Yaya and Amu. "They didn't respond to their names."

"Um… well, since they think that they're each other, trying calling Yaya Amu and calling Amu Yaya."

"Yaya and Amu," Rima said. They both looked in her direction. "Which one is Yaya and which is Amu?"

"Rima-chan, are you sure you're not sick?" Yaya asked. Said blonde chibi devil nearly yelled in frustration.

"Maybe Nagi will know what to do," she muttered, walking toward the door. Utau smirked and grabbed her shoulder.

"You just called him 'Nagi', you know," she said. Rima rolled her eyes.

"His name is too long to bother with," she replied. "He might know what to do, so I'm going to go find him." Rima turned and exited the girls' bedroom.

Later, everyone congregated in the downstairs living room, besides Tadase, who was making breakfast. Nagihiko had come up with a plan, and he was presently explaining it, while Amu and Yaya watched in confusion, occasionally protesting that they were completely in their right minds. "Since Amu thinks her name is Yaya, and vice versa, when you say their real names, it doesn't register. But, since the 'spell', if you will, said that they would remember everything when someone said their name the next day that was referring to their real name. It might seem kind of confusing, but I think we need two people to say both of their names at once."

"I'll do it," Rima volunteered. "Utau, you can help me. I'll say Amu's name and you say Yaya's."

"Okay, on the count of three," the older girl agreed. "One, two, three: Yaya"

"Amu," Rima chimed in unison with Utau. Blushes redder than cherries appeared on both the no-longer confused girls' faces. Neither of them was sure how to react to the sudden memories flooding their brains. Suddenly, Amu freaked. She began running around the living room while waving her hands in the air. It was a very entertaining sight, and everyone just stood there watching her. Yaya's reaction wasn't half as much fun.

Ikuto clapped his hand over Amu's mouth, and screaming ceased. He then proceeded to pick her up princess-style and sat down on the couch, placing her on his lap and holding her there firmly despite her protests. "Stop whining, Amu," said Ikuto, "Don't you want to see Kukai's reaction when he remembers what happened?" She shut up. Apparently, that was worth having to sit on Ikuto's lap. Or maybe she just didn't mind as much as it seemed.

Kukai, having heard his name, suddenly turned bright red as he remembered singing the Barney song and proposing to the sofa. But in the long run, his reaction wasn't even as exciting as Yaya's, who barely did anything at all.

But most everyone was glad to have that whole thing straightened out.

**~About three hours later~**

Rounding the corner of the house, Utau found something she hadn't expected to see. It was, of course, perfectly sensible, considering what she knew, but it was still slightly shocking. She giggled. It _was_ kind of cute. Well, actually, it was _really_ cute.

So the average reader, by now, is wondering _what_ Utau found. It was Rima. And Nagihiko. And they were both asleep.

Nagihiko was sitting on the grass, propped up against a tree trunk, his eyes closed peacefully. Rima's head rested on his shoulder, her eyes also draped shut as his head rested on hers.

Utau asked herself why Rima wanted to keep her love for Nagihiko a secret. But, if that's the way she wanted it, she probably had some unknown reason. So, although this was a perfect opportunity to win the battle of blackmail going between them, she decided that she would be nice to the blonde chibi.

Her first thought was to wake them before someone found them like that. But… the whole scene was just too cute and she couldn't bring herself to do it. Something like that really shouldn't affect her, but Utau simply didn't want to wake the sleeping couple. If anyone asked where they were, she would cover for them.

So Utau left them there and walked inside, trying to find some new source of entertainment. As she entered the house, she walked through the living room, and the first thing she spotted was Kukai lying on the couch.

What was it with people falling asleep all over the place? Well, whatever the case, this was one situation she planned to take advantage of. Creeping to the couch, Utau knelt beside it. A smirk grew on her face as an idea began to form in her mind. If only he would stay asleep a little bit longer…

She ran up the stairs, took something out of her suitcase, and ran back down. Kukai hadn't woken, and was completely oblivious and she slid the earring out of his left ear. The right one was harder to reach because of his position, but she managed it, and replaced both with big, dangly earrings that looked a little bit like wind chimes.

Just as she finished replacing them, Kukai's eyes opened. His green orbs stared right into her purple ones, and a thoughtful silence ensued. Finally, Kukai spoke up.

"Um… Utau, what are you doing?" he asked, still staring straight into her eyes. She had to come up with an excuse or a distraction if she didn't want him to notice the earrings. And she didn't. It would be worth a little excuse-making or distracting for the results. Not that she minded distracting him; not at all. And fortunately, Utau was very skilled in the art of distracting. Especially when it came to the boy she was pretty sure she was in love with.

She rested her head on his chest and snaked her arms around his neck. "Kukai," she hummed, "I wasn't doing anything."

"No?" Kukai raised an eyebrow.

"Nope," Utau replied, smirking as she inched face closer so that their noses were nearly touching. Her eyes drooped shut as she pressed her lips against his. Even if he'd wanted to pull away, he could have because he was still laying on the couch, his head between the cushion and Utau. Of course, there was no way on earth he would ever have wanted to, anyway, so it didn't really matter. He was perfectly happy like he was. Well, at least until Yaya walked into the room.

The two of them ignored the squealing girl for a while, until Utau decided to have a word with her. She stood up, turned to Yaya, and placed her hands on her hips in a stern, scolding fashion.

"Two things: one, it's rude to interrupt. Didn't your mother ever teach you that? And second, I thought you had a crush on Kukai, so why are you squealing like you're really happy?"

"Yaya likes someone else now. And Yaya thinks you are really cute together!"

"Hey, what do you guys want for lunch?" Nagihiko called, coming out of the kitchen. Utau wondered when he'd come into the house.

"Where's Rima?" she asked.

"I think… she's outside reading her gag-Manga," Nagi replied.

"Yaya wants cake!"

"Uh… I'll make sandwiches," he turned and walked back into the kitchen.

**~Outside~**

Rima was sitting on the front porch, once again, while reading her gag-Manga. She had on that angelic face that happened when she was really happy. Laughing at the gags while sitting on the steps, the petite blond was completely oblivious to someone walking up the pathway to the house.

A boy who'd been taking the newspaper to the huge house spotted her, and was enraptured by her beauty. Now this kid, being pretty good-looking and popular, was not in the least bit shy. When he saw the giggling comedy goddess sitting on those steps, he decided to see if he could get her attention.

"Hey," he said, dropping the newspaper at her feet. Rima glanced at it, and up at him, then went right back to her Manga. The boy pulled a pair of sunglasses out of his pocket and put them on. "Do you know why I'm wearing these sunglasses?"

Rima looked at the boy, wondering how to answer. She could be rude and do numerous things, such as simply ignoring him, or walking back into the house and slamming the door in his face. But maybe she could get away with being polite. Besides, he might not go away if she did either of the first two notions. Maybe Nagi would come save her… she like that thought.

"No," she said, "Why?"

"Because your radiance blinds me," he said, grinning widely.

"Then you'd better leave before your eyes get fried," she told him. His grin widened, thinking of this as a challenge.

"Playing hard-to-get?" he asked.

"What kind of a game is _that_?" Rima scoffed, "And why would I want to do such a thing? It's self-contradictory. A paradox."

The boy had to think for a moment to come up with a response. Eventually, he decided to go with a good-old-fashioned polite introduction.

"Umm… I'm Hiroaki, what's you're name?"

"Eliza," Rima lied, inwardly laughing her head off. The boy looked stunned.

"That's a… nice name?"

"Uh-huh. It's… not Japanese," she frowned, not sure where it had come from.

"Y-yeah, I figured that," he said.

_Clack, comp,_ someone stepped onto the porch. Rima turned and her face brightened. Yes, Nagihiko had come to her rescue. The prince comes to slay the dragon trying to devour the princess.

Setting her Manga on the porch, Rima stood up and walked over to him, beaming. "Konichiwa, Nagi-koi!" She greeted. Thankfully, Nagihiko was smart. He raised an eyebrow, then took in the situation.

Placing his arm around her waist, he pulled her closer. "Who are you?" he asked the boy, glaring.

"Uh… I was just dropping off the newspaper. I guess I'll be going. I always say hello to all my customers…"

"Well, I hope you weren't hitting on my Rima-koi."

"R-Rima? I thought her name was Eliza!"

"I would get going if I were you," Nagi threatened. Gulping, the boy ran off.

As soon as he was gone, both Queen and Jack laughed so hard their sides hurt.

"Eliza?" Nagi wheezed. Rima nodded, laughing too hard to do much more. Finally, they could breath after a few minutes. "Come on, Eliza, let's go eat lunch."

"You'd better not start calling me that!"

"What? _Eliza?_"

"Yes!"

"Eliza, Eliza, Eliza!"

"Stop it!"

"Rima you're so cute when you're mad!"

**~At the table, everyone is eating lunch~**

"Kukai?" Amu asked, "What's with… the earrings?" She grinned, trying really hard not to laugh.

"I was wondering that myself," said Tadase.

"Why are my earrings suddenly a big deal? They've been there since you guys met me," Kukai said. Utau concentrated on her food, not looking in any other direction.

"But, you changed them," Tadase pointed out.

"Uh… Hotori-kun," Nagihiko began, trying hard himself not to snicker, "Somehow, I don't think Souma-kun did that himself."

"Face it, Soma, you look silly," Ikuto stated bluntly. Kukai rose from the table, wearing a confused look, and walked away, presumably to look in a mirror. Apparently, he'd figured things out, because when he came back, the earrings were in his hand. He gave them to Utau, then lifted her chin and kissed her square on the mouth.

"Can I have them back now, please?" he asked. Utau shook her head. He kissed her again. "Do I have to keep doing this until you give them to me?"

"Yep," she said, being the one to initiate it this time.

"Get a room, you guys," said Ikuto, looking bored.

"Yaya thinks it's so cute!"

"Souma-kun, are you and Hoshina-san…" Tadase trailed off.

"I think that's pretty obvious by now," stated Rima.

"I'm going outside," Amu said, the 'cooln'spicy' creeping into her tone, "Rima-chan, want to come?"

"Sure," Rima walked with Amu out the door, and everyone but Kukai and Utau followed suit.

When in the yard, it was decided to play a game, although _what_ game was unclear. After several possibilities were debated, Utau and Kukai came outside, Kukai wearing his normal earrings again, although his hair was a mess.

The game that was decided was "Sardines". Amu hid.

Amu followed the stream into a pond-looking place. There were cattails and lily-pads, and frogs croaking. Some trees lined the water, and when she pushed through them, there was a spot where the bank jutted out into the water further. It was completely shaded by the trees, and was big enough for all of them. She sat there and trailed her fingers in the water while waiting for someone to find her.

A few brave minnows come to the surface of the pond, curious as to what could be disturbing the liquid and if, perhaps, it was edible. One of them went as far as to nip at her finger. Of course, being only a minnow, its mouth was far too small to even fit the very tip of her nail in it, so she barely felt it.

Amu was perfectly content watching the minnows dash about, and the occasional fish swim by. After a while, she began to notice the pollywogs that were hiding in the scum of the shallows. When she reached out to grab one, they all darted away, stirring up muck in the water and making it murky.

Amu sat back and looked across the surface of the pond. On top of the lily-pads there ware a few water-lilies. Perched atop one of them was a giant bullfrog. It was hard to spot at first, even though it was huge. Occasionally, it would croak loudly. Although the bullfrog was cool, Amu quickly became bored.

Finally, she heard something coming toward her. A head popped out of the cattails, and Amu turned to find that she was quite unfortunate. "Ikuto!" she exclaimed in a whisper. He walked over to her and sat down so silently it seemed as if he was a ghost. There was a long silence, and neither of them did anything but stare at the pond.

Amu wondered why Ikuto had not yet done or said anything at all, let along anything perverted. And then she chastised herself for thinking that, for expecting him to act like that. Her cheeks tinted the slightest bit pink—not enough to be easily noticed.

Ikuto watched the minnows with fascination, not taking his eyes off them. In the meantime, Amu stared at him without realizing it. Suddenly, it dawned on her how utterly handsome Ikuto really was. It wasn't something she hadn't been aware of before—she'd simply chosen to ignore it. But with the lighting of the sun slanting through the trees, it was surprisingly hard to ignore the fact that he was, indeed, _hot_.

The blush that had begun to creep across her face earlier deepened to a proper red, and Ikuto smirked. "Thinking perverted thoughts about me, are you, my little strawberry?" he asked quietly. Amu suddenly realized that she'd been staring at him, and turned her head in the other direction.

"W-what g-give you th-that idea?"

"Well, the fact that you're face is as red as a tomato sure was part of it," he turned his attention back to the minnows. A tension grew in the still air, and Amu was feeling the worst of it. After a few minutes of the awkward silence, Ikuto poked her in the side. Amu leapt to her feet and yowled in surprise, while the cat boy cringed.

"What did you do that for, you baka-hentai-cosplay-neko?" she screeched. He shushed her.

"You were staring off into space."

"That's no reason to poke me!"

"Sit down and be quiet or I'll do it again," Ikuto said. Amu obeyed. "You can't go yelling and screeching when you're trying to hide."

"S-sorry," she stuttered, looking away.

Another silence.

Ikuto was staring intensely at the creatures in the pond. One unlucky fish happened to swim by, and the cat boy eyed it hungrily before darting a hand in to catch it. He was, much to Amu's surprise, successful. The fish flopped about in his hands, and he gripped it tightly to contain it.

"Ikuto," Amu scolded harshly, "You put that fish back in the water right this instant! Do you want me to push you in?" He quickly dropped the fish back in the water, and the poor, frazzled creature swam away like a sea monster was after him. Or a cat.

Soon, footsteps could be heard coming toward them. "There's Amu-chii and Ikuto-kun!" Yaya exclaimed. Trailing behind her was everyone else.

"I told you not to yell," Ikuto said.

"Hey! I was only yelling because you were being a baka-hentai-cosplay-neko!"

"What did he do this time?" Rima asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He caught a fish," Amu crossed her arms.

"There's nothing wrong with that," Utau said, "Lot's of people do it. It's called 'fishing'."

"But he just scooped it out of the water and looked like he was going to eat it!" Amu complained loudly.

"Stop shouting or I'll give you a real reason to yell," said Ikuto, standing up from his perch at the edge of the water. Amu followed suit.

"Y-you wouldn't!" she stuttered. Smirking, Ikuto leaned over and bit her ear. Amu screeched and jumped away from him.

An evil glint appeared in her eye as an idea formed in her mind. She took a step forward and shoved Ikuto as hard as she could. He fell backward and landed in the pond with a giant splash.

Apparently, she had pushed him harder than she'd thought. Ikuto had gone far enough into the water that he was completely submerged. When he came back up, he was yowling like a cat and spitting water out of his mouth.

The splash had scared many of the creatures, including the giant bullfrog that Amu had been watching earlier. It jumped from its seat on the lily pad and landed directly on top of Ikuto's soaked blue hair, where it let out a giant croak.

Everybody doubled over in laughter, Amu somehow managing to look triumphant through fits of giggles. "That's for enslaving me yesterday," she said when she recovered. Ikuto was still trying to swim to the shore, and not being as successful as one might have guessed. He probably hadn't ever taken swimming lessons, which really wasn't that surprising.

**~After Dinner~**

"Yaya wants to play truth or dare again!" Yaya exclaimed.

"Okay," Ikuto agreed, suddenly brightening. He had been sulking ever since he was pushed into the pond. His trademark smirk appeared on his face once again.

"Yaya's going first! Amu-chii, truth or dare?"

"Dare," Amu said, turning to her 'cooln'spicy' act.

"Yaya dares you to… eat a piece of cardboard!"

"What! That's disgusting!" she protested.

"Eat it," Yaya persisted, miraculously procuring a piece of cardboard the size of a mouse's head. Grumbling, Amu popped it into her mouth and began chewing on it. She stopped for a moment to take her turn.

"Rima, truth or dare?"

"Dare," she said, avoiding anything that could possibly reveal her secret.

"Sing the 'I'm a Little Teapot' song and do the motions with it," Amu commanded. Rima stood up and walked to the center of the circle everyone was sitting in. She put one hand on her hip like a handle and pointed the other outward.

"I'm a little teapot, short and stout," she moved her arms around her to indicate the teapot being round, but didn't bother with 'short', presumably because she already was. "Here is my handle, here is my spout." With that, she returned to the position she'd started out it. When she was finished with the whole song and dance, she sat back down, not even once complaining, although the look on her face didn't allow for any teasing whatsoever.

"Utau, truth or dare?" Rima asked.

"Dare," she replied bluntly.

"Give Tadase a piggy-back ride," the short blonde told the taller blonde. Glaring, she did as she was told, though only for a very brief moment. Tadase, however, seemed more embarrassed about it than Utau.

She sat on the floor with a huff, and continued the game, "Yaya, truth or dare?"

"Yaya picks… dare!"

"When we're done with this game, go back to the pond and catch a frog. Preferably one of those giant bullfrogs. A pollywog would do, too. Anyway, when you have it, you have to kiss it."

"Okay. Amu-chii, truth or dare?"

"That's no fair! You already asked me!"

"Yaya's asking you again. It is fair. Now answer, truth or dare?"

"Truth," Amu replied, still not finished chewing the cardboard.

"Does Amu-chii like Ikuto-kun or Tadase-kun better?" Yaya asked. Predictably, Amu blushed, and mumbled something. "Yaya can't hear you!"

"I d-don't know…" she said, also very quietly. A week ago she would have said Tadase without hesitation. Rima and Nagihiko exchanged a look, and Rima made a mental note to have a heart-to-heart talk with Amu someday soon.

Amu quickly snapped out of her thoughtful moment and cheered up, "Nagi, truth or dare?"

"Dare," he said.

"Kiss Rima… on the lips," she said, smirking. Rima inwardly laughed. Amu was trying to match-make a couple that was already together. However, she forced herself to glare at the pinkette, although it was only half-hearted.

Thankfully, Nagihiko was a pretty good actor. "I'm sorry, Rima-chan," he said as he leaned toward her and pecked her on the lips. Rima was slightly disappointed, but at the same time was grateful to Nagihiko for doing his best to act like they were still enemies.

"Yaya thinks you would make a really cute couple!" Yaya exclaimed. Both of them were blushing, and Rima curled up in a ball to hide her face so no one could see the grin spreading on it.

"Ikuto, truth or dare?" Nagi asked.

"Dare," said Ikuto.

"Caramelldansen," he said, getting up and walking over to the TV. When he opened the cabinet underneath it, he fiddled with the stereo system for a moment, and some music started playing. "You have to do the whole thing."

And, much to everyone's surprise, Ikuto actually did it.

_When you are ready to join us now ?  
hands in the air, we can show you how  
Come and try, Caramell will be your guide (be your guide)  
So come and move your hips singing wah ha ha  
Come and dance like this singing la la la  
You and me, can sing this melody  
Oo oah oo oah oah a  
Dance to the beat, Wave your arms together  
Come feel the heat forever and forever  
Dance and you'll learn it is time for prancing  
Now we are here with Caramell dansen  
Oo oo oo oah oah  
Oo oo oo oah oah ah ah  
Oo oo oo oah oah  
Oo oo oo oah oah ah ah_

He wasn't that bad at it, either. The cat boy danced along with the high-pitched voices and cheery music like he'd practiced it before. Of course, it was quite hard for everyone else not to laugh. This was one thing they would never let him forget.

When the song ended, Ikuto sat down and quickly moved on before anyone could start teasing him about it. "Souma, truth or dare?"

"Truth," Kukai replied.

"Do you really like my sister?" he asked, feeling the slightest bit of a protective older brother instinct that had been bugging him since the scene during lunch.

The mood of the game had suddenly changed, and Kukai felt the sudden need to address Ikuto as 'sir', although he knew it would seem somewhat silly if he did. After a moment of silence, he answered. "No, I don't. I love her."

Smirking, Ikuto nodded. The answer was cliché, overused, but he was satisfied. The protective brother instinct that had come over him was rare, and he felt it dissipate quickly. Utau scooted closer to Kukai and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing his cheek. He blushed, cleared his throat, and said, "Hotori-kun, truth or dare?"

"Dare," answered Tadase.

"Do the hokey pokey and sing while you do it."

"O-okay," Tadase stood up and started singing, "You put your left foot in, you put your left foot out…" and so on, while doing the dance. Everyone started laughing when he sang "You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around, that's what it's all about!" While doing the actions that went with those lines. Finally, he finished, sat back down, and asked the routine question. "Fujisaki-san, truth or dare?"

"Dare," Nagihiko said. At that moment, the charas came in from working on their 'project'. For some unknown reason, Kiseki chara-changed with Tadase, and he started ranting about how Nagihiko must obey him. It took him a while to get around to the dare, and when he did, he told him to cross dress as a girl.

Sighing, Nagi pulled his hair up. "There, happy?" He let it back down.

"That doesn't count as cross dressing!" Rima protested. A tick-mark appeared on Nagihiko's forehead.

"Some girls wear boyish clothes. Tadase didn't specify I had to wear a skirt."

By this time, the chara-change was undone, and Tadase said that it was alright. Nagi breathed a sigh of relief.

The game went on for a while longer, and included several more song and dance acts. When it was finished, it was dark, and Yaya's dare was decided to be carried out in the morning. The frog could wait until then.

**~Sometime in the middle of the night~**

It was hot—way too hot. Sweat was pouring off Rima's body, dampening her pajamas and the base of her hair. Her eyes flew open, taking in the dark room around them. The blackness was enveloping, creeping out from behind corners and leering around every object.

She dared not move—for fear of what, she wasn't certain. But something inside her was desperately calling out, begging her to do something about the creepy, noxious feeling in her stomach. It was worth it, she decided, to make a venture of courage. Although her child-like fear was screaming at her to stay put, it was also telling her to move. To run. To seek protection.

In the past, when Rima had experienced a particularly horrifying nightmare, she would gather up all her courage to run down the dark hallway with the scary looming shadows, and climb into bed with her parents. In fact, even now, when she was far too old for such childish measures, Rima would run to her parents, as if nothing frightful could come when they were there. They had been her bulwarks.

That was what she needed now: a bulwark. Even though the dreadfulness of the dream hadn't been direction toward her, it was more awful that any she'd had, and she felt the need for comfort. The fact that the nightmare hadn't been at her won expense was the actual reason it was so terrifying. It had been about Nagi. Nagihiko: the single most important person in her life. Even more so than her own life, and if dreams could be omens, she didn't even want to think anything close to what might happen.

And that was why Rima felt the need not only for a bulwark, but for assurance. Assurance that Nagi was, indeed, fine and it had been, in fact, nothing more than a nightmare induced by her crucial desire to have nothing bad happen to Nagihiko.

Glancing at the sleeping chara on her pillow provided little comfort for Rima. She needed to know that Nagi was okay, and she wanted so desperately to be away from the horrid dream.

Not bothering to wake Kusukusu, Rima slipped out from under her covers and tip-toed as fast as she could out of the room, across the hall, and into the other room. In case Ikuto was awake, Rima crawled across the shadowy floor, so couldn't be seen. Thankfully, she didn't have to search for the right bed, having figured out the sleeping arrangements on her last late-night visit.

"Nagihiko!" she whispered harshly when she reached him. He didn't wake. "Nagi!" Rima shook him lightly, and he turned to her and opened his eyes.

"R-Rima?"

"Nagi…" she whimpered, trailing off as she realized that she hadn't thought this far ahead. "Are you okay?" was what she finally came up with. He looked at her funny.

"Yes, I'm fine, Rima-chan," he replied then added, a bit sarcastically, "And how are you today?"

"Are you sure you're okay?" she shuddered.

"Positive. What's wrong, Rima?" Nagi looked really concerned. Rima climbed onto his bed and pulled the covers over her. "What are you doing?"

"Nightmare," she explained, curling into a ball. Nagihiko stroked her cheek gently as Rima squeezed her eyes shut.

"It'll be fine," he said, "Think of more pleasant things."

"Like what?" Rima asked. He thought for a moment before replying.

"Like this," he tilted her face upward and kissed her mouth. She deepened it, and eventually pulled back.

"Can I stay here tonight?" she whispered, huddling against him. He chuckled softly.

"Sure, Rima-chan,"

"Arigato, Nagi…" said Rima, her eyes falling shut as she began to fall back asleep. Nagihiko smiled.

"I love you," he breathed into her hair. But she was already asleep.

**Awwww! Wasn't that cute? I really like that last scene. I had a lot of fun writing it. **

**So there you have an uber-fluffy chapter to make up for the fluff-less chapter I posted last time!**

**Sorry for the lame parts of this chapter. I realize some of them weren't as good as others.**

**The cheesy pick-up line the newspaper boy used came from my co-worker. He made it up, not me. I was simply listening in on a hilarious conversation and happened to overhear him make it up, although I altered it. The original involved ski goggles. (I work at a ski resort)**

**Well, don't expect an update for a while. My driver's education course is going to take up a lot of my time, and I'm mostly out of ideas. It might be a week or two before there's another update. Sorry.**

**Please review! Any ideas, no matter how crazy, are welcome!**


	17. Day Ten, Part One

**A/N: Konichiwa, minna-san! This story is nearly finished. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I have lots of ideas for other stories when I finish this one. So I need you to vote on my pole about what you want me to write next. I'll have descriptions of the stories on my profile.**

**Also, I'm going to Oregon for a while. So it will be at least a week before I post again. Hopefully, I'll get a lot written while I'm gone. I've got a writer's block right now.**

**Don't forget to vote on my poll.**

**Arigato!**

The Million Dollar Bet

Day Ten, Part One

Nagihiko woke to see a vision of pure beauty. It was one of the loveliest things he'd ever seen: the angelic features of his Rima-chan so relaxed and peaceful as she slept. His chest swelled with love and pride. This sleeping beauty was _his_ girlfriend.

The morning light slanting through his window shown on Rima's face and glinted off her golden curls. Her eyes were closed calmly, and her delicate nose and pink lips were still.

Nagi had a sudden impulse: something he wanted to do very badly. His first instinct was to tell himself no, but when he thought about it, what harm would it do? It wasn't like Rima would be mad at him: she herself had given him permission to do so whenever he liked. It went without saying that that rule didn't apply when others were around, however.

So Nagihiko leaned forward and kissed Rima, who went right on sleeping, unaware of her boyfriend next to her. He wrapped his arm around her waist and fell asleep again, forgetting that it was morning and the others would be awake soon.

**~Later~**

"Nagihiko! What have you done to my best friend?" screeched Amu, her face turning red in anger.

"I thought I was your best friend," Utau said, crossing her arms.

"I-I meant uh…" Amu spluttered, trying to find something to say.

Nagihiko and Rima, having both been woken by the pinkette's yelling, sat up to find everyone gathered around them. Utau watched in slight boredom as Amu try to explain what she meant by the 'best friend' thing, and how she could have more than one best friend. Ikuto looked amused. Yaya's jaw was hanging open for flies to come in, while Tadase and Kukai simply looked surprised.

Eventually, Amu gave up trying to explain herself and turned back to the matter at hand.

"Wow, Fujisaki, I didn't think you would—" Kukai began, but was cut off.

"This is _not_ what it looks like," Nagi said very seriously.

Suddenly, everyone burst out in speech and argument, while Rima and Nagihiko sat there watching the whole scene. Their voices were getting louder and louder until one voice rose above the others.

"Quiet!" Tadase roared. The room fell silent. "We all have made assumptions, but I, for one, know that Fujisaki-san is _not_ a pervert. He wouldn't do something like _that_. We need to give them a chance to explain."

"Okay, we'll listen to Kiddy-king. Fujisaki, explain." Ikuto said, smirking. This was an interesting situation, and he didn't think they'd be able to sort it out.

"Rima?" Nagi asked. She nodded.

"I… had a nightmare," she explained. It would have been laughable had they not been so confused. Yaya voiced the question that everyone but Utau was wondering.

"Why'd you run to Nagi?"

"Well… that's a long story," Rima said, becoming fascinated with her toes.

"We've got time," Utau said, wanting to hear it straight from Rima from start to finish.

"Uhh… well, my mind had been all weirded-out when Nagi kissed me in the attic, and after a while…"

"Wait, what?" Amu yelled. Nagihiko turned red.

"Nothing happened in the attic, huh?" Ikuto raised an eyebrow.

"Let her finish," Nagihiko said, somewhat snappily.

"Well, I wasn't mad that he took my first kiss. And that led to a bunch of other thoughts, so in the end, I realized that I'm in love with him."

"So explain why you're in here," said Kukai.

"Well, we've been…" Rima searched for the right word. They hadn't left the house, so she couldn't say they were 'going out'. Finally, she came up with something, although it sounded old-fashioned. "I guess you could say 'courting,' secretly. And last night, I had a nightmare. And usually… gosh, this is embarrassing." Rima curled into a ball and hid her face. "Usually, I crawl into bed with my mom when I have a really bad nightmare. So, I came to Nagi."

"See?" Nagihiko said, "That's it."

"We're sorry, Mashiro-san, and Fujisaki-kun, for jumping to conclusions," Tadase said. There was a short silence.

"Yaya thinks you two are so cute!" Yaya yelled. Amu had fainted. Utau placed her hands on her hips.

"Well, at least our blackmail war is over. But it's too bad I can't manipulate you anymore."

"You knew about this?" Amu asked, getting up off the floor and staring at Utau in surprise.

"I'm surprised the rest of you didn't catch on…" she replied.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"Well… Rima had information, too. And besides, telling you all would defeat the point: it would no longer be blackmail information."

"Wait, what kind of information did Rima have?" Kukai asked. Rima smirked evilly.

"Let's see… there was the time I found you two kissing behind the house," Rima began. Utau cut in.

"It's not like I would have cared if you told anyone," she said, but she was blushing. "And I had way more evidence against you, so you'd better watch it."

"Like what?" Rima challenged. Utau fiddled with her cell phone, and a picture appeared on the screen. She showed it to Rima, who gave a short gasp. It was a picture of her kissing Nagi on the bridge, and it looked like it had been taken from above.

"Like that. And this," she procured another picture, this one of Rima and Nagihiko sleeping on each others shoulders in the back yard. Rima's face turned redder than it already was. Nagihiko, who was looking at the pictures over her shoulder, was also blushing madly.

"Yaya wants to see the pictures, too!" Yaya exclaimed. Utau flipped her phone shut.

"Should I erase them, Rima, Nagihiko?"

"Actually… can you send them to me?" Rima asked. Utau smiled: a real smile, not a smirk. The shorter girl smiled genuinely in return.

"No problem, Rima-chan," the idol replied.

**~Later, in the kitchen~**

Yaya switched the lever on the mixer all the way up, and covered her eyes as bits of egg and flower flew out of the stainless-steel dish. After it had stirred for a moment, she turned it off and peered inside. Walking to the island counter, Yaya picked up a bag of chocolate chips and poured the whole thing into the mixing bowl. Then she turned the machine on.

It whirred, but didn't move very much. She turned it up a notch, and then another, and another, until the chocolate chips were stirred in well. When the dough was done, Yaya dipped a hand into the bowl and grabbed a glob of the substance. Promptly, she shoved the gooey dough in her mouth and chewed on it, then decided it was perfectly fit for anyone. She would be proud to serve this to a king.

After carefully reading the instructions in the recipe one more time, Yaya decided on a plan of action. Of course, since she was unable to carry out the directions, she would have to improvise. There was no way she was letting this perfectly good cookie dough go to waste.

Yaya was not stupid. She knew one basic thing about cooking: you don't put metal in the microwave. It was something she had learned when she put a fork in her TV dinner tray and microwaved it. The results had been disastrous.

So she got some paper plates from the pantry and began distributing cookie-sized balls of dough onto each one.

Soon, Tadase came into the kitchen. He eyed her warily, then glanced at the mess around the kitchen, and a panicked look came across his face.

"Yuiki-san, I thought Fujisaki-kun banned you from the kitchen," he said. Yaya shook her head.

"No, Nagi only banned Yaya from using the stove or the oven."

"But it looks like you're making cookies. I hope you're not planning to eat the dough uncooked. Raw eggs can make you sick!"

"No! Yaya's not stupid!" Yaya exclaimed. She pointed to the microwave, which was humming while its timer counted down. "Yaya's using the microwave!"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Of course Yaya's sure!" Yaya skipped over to the microwave and peered inside. Her eyes widened and she pushed the button that opened it. Smoke was coming from a tiny black splotch on one end of the cookie, and it smelled awful. It was tinted slightly green, and had huge craters that looked liked the surface of the moon. It was flat and crusted completely onto the paper plate, so that when she bent it, the cookie cracked. Altogether, it looked like dog vomit on top of volcanic rock.

Tears welled up in Yaya's eyes as she looked at the pitiful thing. It really was a sight to behold.

Amu walked into the kitchen and spotted Yaya in tears. She went to see what was up with her friend, when she smelled the disgusting desert.

"What's wrong, Yaya?"

"Yaya's cookie is yucky!" She wailed. Amu looked at the plate with the splat that was supposed to be a cookie on it, and burst out laughing.

"What's it supposed to be?" she managed between giggles.

"It's a cookie," explained Tadase, "Yuiki-san tried to cook it in the microwave."

"Nagi-kun banned Yaya from the stove and the oven," Yaya added, as if to justify herself. "And now there's a bunch of cookie dough that will go to waste. Yaya hates wasting sweets!"

"Nagi didn't ban me from the oven," Amu said, "I'll put them in there. What's it supposed to be preheated to?"

"370," Tadase said, looking at the recipe. Amu punched in the numbers then sat at the barstools at the island counter.

"Now we just wait," she stated. There were some things Amu could do without her chara's help.

"Arigato, Amu-chii! Yaya can't wait to have cookies!"

"You know, that cookie looks a little bit like a piece of modern art, Yuiki-san," Tadase stated.

"Really?"

"Yeah," agreed Amu, "Like a splatter painting." That was one disgusting splatter painting.

"Yaya wants to talk about Rima-tan and Nagi-kun while we wait!" Yaya exclaimed in a low tone, incase said couple was in hearing range. "Yaya thinks they're so cute!" Amu smiled.

"I'm really happy for them," she said, "Although I admit I was shocked."

"They do seem unlikely, don't they?"

"Yaya thinks they're perfect!"

"I agree. They were made for each other," Amu replied. The oven beeped and she rose to put the cookies in. "I hope that was the microwave's fault and not the dough," she said as she slid the tray into the oven.

**Gomennesai! Really, I'm really, truly, very sorry for how terribly, dreadfully short this is. Really, I am. But I wanted to get it out before I left on vacation, and I'll be really busy tomorrow. I'm taking my final driving test to get my permit, which is exciting but nerve-racking.**

**Yaya's cookie: I know what happens because I did it to see what would happen so Yaya could do it in this fic. The link to the picture of the cookie is on my profile. It's really worth it!**

**Please vote on my poll! This fic is drawing to a close and I really need to know what to write when I'm finished.**

**Review, onegai!**


	18. Day Ten, Part Two

**A/N: Hey, minna! I really don't have much to say. My little sister got her hair cut just like Tadase's. I'm back from vacation now, and have run out of sitcoms to watch, so I'm writing. I've been having a writer's block, so this might not be that great. Also, I'm sorry if the characters seem OOC in this chapter. I haven't written in so long it's really hard.**

**If you haven't already, please vote on my poll so I know what to write next. As of now, Rima Enchanted is winning. **

**Thank you, Shadow Host, for ideas! I used one of them in this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own Alex Rider. Anthony Horowitz does.**

The Million Dollar Bet

Day Ten, Part 2

"Maybe Yaya's frog will turn into a _prince_ when Yaya kisses it!" exclaimed the hyper girl, not even thinking about her choice of words.

"HAHAHA! NO, I am KING! Not a prince!" Tadase began as he chara-changed. Kukai ran to get a bucket while Yaya scanned the pond for frogs. Most of them had been scared off by Tadase's ranting, and by the time he'd calmed down, there were none in sight.

"Yaya can't find one!"

"Look in the cattails," said Utau. Yaya parted the long, grassy plants and looked around the muddy ground under them. There were no frogs.

"What about pollywogs? Would that count?" Nagihiko asked. Utau shrugged.

"Sure," she said. Yaya bent and peered into the murky water. It wasn't long before she spotted something and her hands dashed in to grab it.

When they emerged, a fat pollywog the size of a full-grown mouse was in her hands. Its slippery swampy-green skin shone in the sunlight while its tiny sides moved in and out as it gasped for air. The tail was pretty small, and its back legs were developed enough that it could move them in a jumping motion in the air, although it did little good. Yaya had a firm grip on the poor creature.

Yaya held the pollywog up to her face and kissed it, then promptly tossed the premature bullfrog back into the pond. It landed with a plop, sending ripples in all directions, and swam away with a frightened look. Yaya spit onto the ground, then wiped her mouth, making disgusted noises.

"Yuck! Yaya is going to brush her teeth now," she ran to the house, while everyone else watched in amusement or laughter.

**~Later, on top of the house~**

Ikuto was annoyed, irritated, and slightly jealous. Of course, only slightly. It was, after all, only Kiddy-King that all these unpleasant things were directed toward.

Tadase and Amu were walking through the garden behind the house, and they were far too close. Both had blushes of scarlet on their faces, and from where he was watching them on the roof, Ikuto could occasionally hear what they were saying. Tadase was being a sap.

The next thing Ikuto knew, they were holding hands while he sat there watching them. Tadase stopped walking, and Amu followed suit. After exchanging quite a few words, the two seemed to be getting closer and closer until…

Ikuto couldn't take it anymore. He saw where this was headed and jumped off the roof, trying his best to be clamorous. Walking toward them, he smirked in satisfaction at having interrupted their moment.

"Hello, my little strawberry, and Kiddy-King," he said. Tadase looked as if he were about to explode from anger, and Amu's blush deepened.

"Ikuto!" she exclaimed.

"Yes, that _is_ my name," said Ikuto.

"What do you want?" snapped Tadase. Ikuto looked at him with a bored expression, and turned to walk back to the house.

"It's time for lunch," he stated.

Amu and Tadase followed him into the house, and Ikuto was slightly relieved to see that he was right about lunch. Rima was setting the table, while Yaya stood by her side, telling her how horrible the frog had tasted.

Ikuto decided that he would simply steal Amu after lunch and take her onto the roof with him. However, this didn't happen. As soon as the girls were done eating, Amu said something very quietly to Rima and both girls retreated upstairs.

**~In the girl's bedroom~**

"Why are we here?" Rima asked as they walked onto the balcony.

"Well, several reasons," stated Amu. "First, don't you think it would be fun to have a party on the last night here?"

"…yeah, that would be fun. But what kind of a party?"

"Like a semi-formal party, I guess. Remember all those dresses Yaya found in the attic? Maybe there are some less-formal ones."

"I didn't think you liked to get dressed up," Rima reminded her. Amu flushed slightly.

"Well, it wasn't my idea. It was Tadase's," she replied.

"Yaya would probably love to have a party like that," mused Rima, "And I doubt Utau has any objections."

"Great. We can start planning it at dinner," said Amu.

"What was the other thing? You said there were several reasons you wanted to talk to me," Rima said.

"Oh, yeah," she sat on the ground, and Rima did the same, sitting next to her. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?" Rima asked, although she had a pretty good idea what her best friend was talking about.

"About you and Nagihiko," Amu crossed her arms. "I thought you trusted me."

"I do," said the short blond, rolling her eyes. "And you found out, anyway."

"But why did you keep it a secret? You could have at least told me."

"It wasn't a complete secret," Rima reminded, "Utau knew."

"How did she find out?"

"Well… remember that day when you were playing hide-and-seek? She was hiding in a tree near the bridge, where I was sitting. And she saw Nagihiko and I talking. And she got a picture of us on her cell phone," she explained. Amu raised an eyebrow.

"How did she know you weren't arguing?"

"Ah... well, she took the picture when I…" Blushing, Rima trailed off and hid her face in her knees.

"When you what?" prodded Amu.

"When I kissed him," she mumbled. There was a short silence before the pinkette giggled. "What's funny about it?" Rima asked, her head shooting up, a glare appearing on her face.

"It's just cute," Amu said. "I think you two were made for each other." A short silence occurred. "But there's something else I still want to ask."

"What's that?" Rima's blush was fading now.

"How did he confess? And when?" she looked really curious. As her blush came back, darker than before, Rima buried her face again.

"I did," she muttered.

"What?" Amu asked, not being able to hear Rima's muffled voice very well. Rima lifted her head and faced Amu again.

"I confessed first. Remember the night when I stayed up a lot later than the rest of you?"

"Yes."

"Well, that was when I realized it. So I crept out of the room and woke Nagi and I told him," she explained. Her friend just stared at her, almost disbelieving. "We agreed to keep it a secret," Rima added, as if that would convince her.

"You just walked right into his bedroom, woke him up, and proclaimed your love?" Amu asked, looking amazed.

"No," Rima corrected, "I snuck in, woke him up, dragged him outside, gave an explanation, and then confessed." She paused for a moment, and then added, "And I managed to not wake anyone else up in the process."

"But why didn't you tell me? I was really… _shocked_ when they found you this morning. What if—"

"Nagi's not a pervert," she interrupted. "I trust him. He wouldn't do anything like _that_."

"He probably wouldn't, but it still scared me," said Amu, crossing her arms.

"I wanted to talk to you about something, too," Rima changed the subject. "Do you _really_ like Tadase?"

"I… I'm n-not sure. Sort of," the pink-haired girl blushed and looked away.

"Do you love him?"

"…N-no. At least, not the way you love Nagi," she replied. Now both girls had red faces, each in different shades.

"What about Ikuto? Do you like him?"

"I d-don't know. He's annoying, b-but I guess I k-kind of like him."

"Which do you like better?"

"I don't know th-that, either. B-but the feelings are d-different," stuttered Amu. There was a thumping noise, and both girls turned their heads to see Ikuto had landed on the balcony, presumably from the roof. Before any protests could be made, he picked Amu up princess-style and leapt back onto the top of the house. Rima smiled and walked inside, sliding the door to the balcony shut behind her.

Not really having anything to do, Rima went in search of Nagihiko. She found him in the upstairs living room, sprawled on the couch, reading a book. He seemed very absorbed in it and didn't notice her come into the room.

Looking over his shoulder, she caught a few words on random spots across the page, which included: Alex, explosive, the, and MI6.

"What's MI6?" Rima asked, startling Nagihiko.

"Oh, hi, Rima," he sat up and turned to face her, "MI6 is the British special operations." She raised an eyebrow.

"What are you reading?"

"Alex Rider," Nagi said, "It's really good."

"What's it about?"

"A fourteen-year-old spy."

"Is it funny?" Rima sat on the couch, resting her chin on her fist as she gazed at Nagihiko.

"No, not really. Occasionally."

"Sounds boring," she said.

"It's not. Here, let me read some to you," he began to read aloud. Rima watched his pretty face as he spoke, his voice filling the room, sometimes pausing for affect. She loved the sound of that voice, and was very content to just sit there staring at him, listening to him read. After a while, he stopped. "What do you think?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, it's… fine," Rima replied absently. Nagihiko sighed.

"You weren't listening to any of that, were you?"

"Nope," she smiled. Her eyes hadn't moved from his face the entire time.

"You'd probably think it was boring, anyway," he said, shutting the book and setting it on the floor. "I'm going to make some chocolate pudding-cake, want to help me?"

"Sure," Rima said in a bored tone. "But didn't Yaya already make cookies?"

"Yes, but frankly, I don't trust them."

**~15 minutes later~**

"Stir this for a moment while I find some vanilla-extract for the cake," Nagihiko said, handing a large metal spoon to Rima. She dragged a stool to the stove and stood on it so that she could easily stir the pudding without burning herself. The spoon was already warm, and it was getting warmer every moment.

Nagihiko disappeared into the pantry in search of vanilla, and Rima wrapped the handle of the spoon in a dishrag so it wouldn't be too hot. For a moment or so, that worked, but the heat rising from the stove was burning her hand. She switched hands to give the one she'd been using a break.

"Isn't it thick enough yet?" she called.

"Not if the timer hasn't beeped yet," Nagihiko hollered back from inside the pantry. Grimacing, Rima held onto the spoon and kept stirring. Finally, the timer beeped and she turned the stove off.

"I found the vanilla," said Nagihiko, coming out of the pantry holding a bottle of a dark liquid.

"That doesn't look like vanilla," stated Rima.

"Yes it does," he said, looking somewhat confused.

"Isn't vanilla usually light-colored?" she asked. He sighed.

"No, Rima-chan. That's just the flavor used in ice cream and such. This is vanilla extract. Here, smell it," he took the lid off the bottle and held it to her nose.

"Mmm," she said, "That smells really good! Can I taste it?"

"Uh," Nagihiko sweat-dropped. "I don't think you want to."

"Why not?"

"Well…" he began, "I guess you can if you really want to." He took out a spoon, poured a tiny bit of the dark liquid onto it, and handed it to Rima. She put it in her mouth and immediately her face changed from delighted to disgust.

"Yuck! You're going to put that in the cake?" she exclaimed.

"Yes," Nagihiko replied, "It's a basic ingredient in a lot of sweets. And it doesn't take much."

"Are you sure?" Rima still looked skeptical. "It might ruin the cake."

"It won't," he assured her, pouring it into a teaspoon and dumping it into a mixture of other ingredients. "Is the pudding done?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, I've got to get some more flour out of the pantry," he went back into the large pantry and headed towards the back of it, where there were stored several large bags of flour. Gripping the edges of one firmly, he began to pull it out. In doing so, much flour rose into the air from both the bag he was dragging and its comrades.

He coughed as it thickened the air, and there was a sliding noise as the other bags shifted out of their positions in the neat stack they had been in and sprawled themselves across the floor.

When the flour in the air cleared, Nagihiko once again had clear vision of the whole pantry. But something was different. Now that the bags of flour were no longer stacked against the wall, what was behind them could be seen.

It was a door.

"Rima!" Nagihiko's voice echoed out of the pantry. Rima looked up from the confusing recipe and jumped off the barstool she'd been sitting on.

"What is it?" she asked as she walked in. The first thing she noticed was flour all over the place, including an almost completely-white Nagi. The next thing that her eyes drew attention to was the door on the back wall. It was short; everyone else would have had to duck to get through, but she could probably manage to go right through it without bonking her head. "When did that get there?"

"The stack of flour fell over, and it was behind it."

"That explains why you're covered in flour," mused Rima, smiling.

"What?" Nagihiko asked.

"You look funny like that," she replied, almost laughing. He frowned, and Rima's smile grew. "But in a cute way," she added, wrapping her arms around him. He hugged her back, and after a moment, she pulled away. "What's behind the door?"

"I don't know. Let's see," Nagihiko opened it, and ducked as he walked through. Rima followed him. A flight of steps led the two of them down into a basement-like room that was very large, with cement walls. The distinct scent of chlorine was in the air, and a bit of light was streaming through some small, high-up windows.

Nagihiko found a light switch, and flipped it. Suddenly, the room was bright, and in the middle of the cement floor could be seen a giant, clear swimming pool.

"A swimming pool?" Rima asked, although in truth, she wasn't really surprised. She had learned to expect this kind of thing after the past week-and-a-half. She was also somewhat disappointed, having been hoping it was some sort of dungeon or a room filled with treasure. Oh, well.

"Did anybody even bring their swimsuits?" Nagihiko wondered.

"I didn't," said Rima. There was a short silence. "Yaya will be excited, anyway."

**~On the roof~**

"Ikuto!" cried Amu, "Let me down!"

"We've only been up here for about thirty minutes," Ikuto replied. "You want to go down _already_?"

"I wanted to get down when we first got up here!" exclaimed Amu.

"Sorry, I can't let you down yet," he said.

"Then when _will_ you let me down?" she growled.

"Were you telling Shorty the truth?"

"Rima?"

"Yeah."

"The truth about what?" Amu crossed her arms.

"Do you like me or Tadase better?" questioned Ikuto.

"If I say I like you better, will you get me off this roof?"

"Maybe," he replied.

"Okay, I like you better," Amu said. Ikuto shook his head.

"You don't _mean_ that, though, do you?"

"Yes, I do! How do you know if I do or not?"

"Exactly. How do I know you're telling the truth?" he smirked. Amu looked agitated, then a bit queasy.

"Will you take my word for it?"

"Nope," his smirk grew wider. Amu pecked him on the cheek.

"Okay, now will you take me down?"

"No."

"Erg! What do I have to do?" she threw her arms in the air.

"I'm not going to tell you," Ikuto said.

"_Please_ take me down?"

"Okay," he picked her up princess-style again, and jumped onto the largest balcony. "You should be polite more often."

"Baka! You're never polite!"

"So? That doesn't mean you shouldn't be. And I am polite, sometimes," Ikuto carried her into the house.

"Will you _please_ set me down?" Amu asked. Ikuto smirked again.

"Manners got you off the roof, but that's not going to help you here," he began to walk down the stairs, Amu still in his arms.

"Baka-hentai-cosplay-neko! Set me down before…" she stopped herself, looking somewhat sheepish.

"Before what? Tadase sees you?" Ikuto said. A blush grew on Amu's face. As they entered the kitchen, Tadase, Yaya, and Kukai came in the side door. Tadase looked ready to explode, and Yaya looked slightly surprised.

Making sure Tadase was watching, Ikuto kissed Amu on her mouth, and afterward, set her down. Having witnessed this, Tadase chara-changed.

At that moment, Rima and Nagihiko came back from their adventure to Narnia, and Utau also entered the kitchen. Amu was yelling at Ikuto, Tadase was laughing his evil laugh, and Yaya was searching for a bucket. The whole scene was chaotic, and not helped by the fact that Nagihiko was still covered in flower (some if it was on Rima, too), and the ingredients from the cake that had yet to be finished were covering the countertops.

Half an hour later, Tadase was his normal self, Amu was not speaking to Ikuto, Nagihiko had rid himself of the flour, the kitchen was clean, the cake was in the oven, and Rima and Nagi were showing everyone else the door in the back of the pantry. As Rima had predicted, Yaya was very excited about the swimming pool, although no one had brought swimsuits.

They were all standing in the basement at the edge of the pool, discussing various things, when there was a loud _splash_, and all heads turned to see a very surprised Ikuto scrambling to get out of the pool.

"That's what happens when you _kidnap _me," Amu said, crossing her arms and assuming her 'cool&spicy' act. As he rose from the water, dripping wet, Ikuto smirked. _She didn't say anything about the kiss._

**~After dinner~**

Despite the fact that no one had brought swimsuits, everyone was in the pool, swimming in their clothes. Well, everyone except for Ikuto, who refused to get anywhere near the water, and Rima, who was just dangling her feet in, since swimming was simply too much effort. Kukai and Utau were racing across the pool.

"Rima-chii, get in the water!" Yaya urged. Rima shook her head.

"No way," she replied.

"Why not?" Nagihiko asked.

"I don't like swimming," Rima said, turning up her nose. She didn't bother to add that she wasn't particularly good at it, either.

"It would be nice if you joined us, Mashiro-san," Tadase smiled.

"The water's really shallow here," Amu added. She was right. Rima could have easily stood in it without getting her head wet.

"I already washed my hair today, and I don't want to get chlorine in it," she said. "Besides, it's always a pain to comb out afterward."

"Please come in, Rima-chan?" said Nagihiko, giving her a pleading look. She turned her head in the other direction, trying to erase the image before it influenced her.

"Absolutely not," Rima said firmly. Nagihiko's hand gripped hers, and he tugged gently.

"Please?"

"I said I wa—eek!" There was a rather loud splash, and Rima found herself in the pool. "Fujisaki!" Rima yelled, trying to hit him, but failing miserably as the water slowed her movement. Nagihiko pulled her into hug.

"Please don't call me that, Rima," his voice was half teasing and half serious. Then he tilted her chin upward and kissed her. Rima found herself happily wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him back, despite the fact that he had just pulled her into the water against her will.

After that, Yaya would not stop bugging them for quite some time.

To make up for pulling her into the swimming pool, Nagihiko combed Rima's very-tangled hair afterward.

**I was planning on ending this chapter sooner, but I put that last scene in there because I just felt that it needed a bit more Rimahiko. Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed it! Sorry for the late update…**

** Please review, and vote on my poll if you haven't already: it will decide what story I write next.**


	19. Day Eleven and Day Twelve

**A/N: I'm leaving on Wednesday. It's gonna be about two weeks. There will be no updates during that time, since I will have little, if any, access to a computer. But I'll keep writing in my notebook, and hopefully I'll update when I get back.**

**Anyway, from the pole results, I've decided that I will write Rima Enchanted next. The first three chapters are already posted. Go take a look at them, if you're interested.**

**Also, a huge thanks to Shadow Host for ideas!**

**Enjoy!**

The Million Dollar Bet

Day Eleven and Day Twelve

"You got part of the shell in there again," said Nagihiko, fishing it out of the bowl with half of the egg shell. "You have to do it like this." He cracked an egg on the side of the bowl and poured its contents in. Rima sighed in aggravation. Setting the next egg on the counter he turned to look her in the eye. "What?"

"Why do you have to be so _perfect_?" she said.

"What do you mean?"

"You're so perfect! You're good at cooking, and dancing, and basketball, you get good grades, you're polite, and hot, and always giving advice…" Rima listed. Nagihiko raised an eyebrow.

"I'm hot?" he asked somewhat teasingly. Rima's face turned bright red.

"… Very, very hot," she confirmed.

"That's a matter of opinion," he replied, grinning. It was true, but that's only if people wanted to be technical. "And I'm not perfect."

"In what way are you not perfect?" Rima crossed her arms.

"I cross-dressed, remember?" his grin faded.

"Yeah, and you were great at that, too!" she exclaimed, "See, you're perfect!"

"There are other ways that I'm not perfect," Nagihiko retorted.

"Like _what_? _What_ are you not good at?"

"I'm not as good at gags as you are," he said, avoiding the question slightly, "And it's up to you to decide whether or not I'm good at kissing."

"That…" Rima began, her blush becoming redder, "Well, I haven't ever kissed anyone else, so how would I know?"

"Exactly. So for all either of us know, I could be very bad at it," Nagihiko put out. There was a short silence, and Rima stared at the ground.

"I… I like your kisses," she stated quietly. Grinning once again, he was about to say something, but a loud noise caught both of their attention.

"YAAAYYYYAAAAA'SS HUUUUNNNGRRRRYYYYY!" a hyper girl yelled as she came running down the stairs and into the kitchen. "Is breakfast ready yet?" she asked a frowning Rima.

"No."

"What's taking you so long?" Yaya whined. Her eyes darted between the two of them, and a most disturbing look came across her face. "Yaya can leave, if Nagi-kun and Rima-tan want her to."

Nagihiko sweat-dropped. "Its fine, Yaya. I'm trying to teach Rima how to crack eggs without getting pieces of the shell in the bowl."

**~During lunch~**

"What's that, Yaya?" Amu asked, gesturing to the object in said girl's hands.

"Oh, it's just some candy Yaya found," she replied, pulling a bit of the plastic away to remove one of the cylinder-shaped, colorfully wrapped items.

"What kind of candy is that?" Tadase asked, "I've never seen it before."

"Umm…." Yaya picked up the package and read the label. "Ground blooms." She began unwrapping it.

"Ground blooms…." Utau said, thoughtfully. "Why does that sound so familiar?" There was a moment of silence, then suddenly, almost everyone spoke at the same time.

"Wait, Yaya!"

"Don't eat that!"

"Stop!"

Etcetera.

Yaya drew the 'candy' away from her face, before she'd even put it in her mouth. "Why can't Yaya eat it?"

"They're not candy," Ikuto said.

"What are they, then?"

"Explosives," Utau replied.

"What?"

"Fireworks," Nagihiko explained, "Those aren't candy: they're fireworks."

"Eeek!" Yaya threw the whole package over her shoulder, into the kitchen. "Yaya was just about to eat fireworks!"

"Please don't tell me you left the stove on, Rima-chan," Amu gulped. Rima nodded.

A silence ensued, but it didn't last for long. Zapping, popping, sizzling, buzzing, and exploding sounds erupted from the kitchen, and colorful sparks spewed into the dining room. Everyone yelled, covered their heads, and leapt for shelter. They all ended up under the table.

It took a while for the explosions to subside, and when they did, it was very cautiously that the group emerged from their hiding place, and even more cautiously that they entered the kitchen.

The kitchen looked as if a battle had just ended in there: one that involved bombs. Little flaming bits of the fireworks lay all over the floor, and a few on the counters. The pot of boiling water that had been left on the stove was overturned on the floor, and a huge, steaming puddle was soaking the ground. Black spots where the fireworks had touched were covering the place.

"Wow," Kukai stated.

"Yeah," Nagi agreed, "I didn't think those little things could do that much damage."

"Yaya's sorry!" wailed Yaya.

"It's okay, Yaya: you didn't know," Amu said. Rima hung her head.

"I shouldn't have left the stove on," she said.

"Well, you didn't know that Yaya would throw a bunch of fireworks in there, either, so it's not your fault," Utau pointed out. Amu nodded in agreement.

"Standing around here talking about who's at fault isn't getting this place cleaned up," said Ikuto. And with that, they got to cleaning. When they were done, there was still some damage that wouldn't be easily fixed, and the stove was broken. But at least there were no flaming pieces of explosives lying around.

**~Sometime after dinner, in the girl's room~**

"I call Utau!" Yaya exclaimed.

"No," Utau objected. "I already called Amu."

"What!" Rima exclaimed. "That makes me stuck with Yaya!"

"Does Rima-tan not like Yaya?" Yaya asked, sadly.

"It's not that," Rima said, "It's just you're probably going to poke me in the eye and blind me!"

"It is called a _blind_ makeover," Amu pointed out.

"Yes, but the person _doing_ it is supposed to be blind, not the person receiving it," Rima argued.

"Yaya's not going to blind anyone!" Yaya yelled.

"Fine, I'll go with Yaya," Amu sighed, going into 'cooln'spicy' mode. Yaya cheered and put a blindfold on the pinkette. Rima was also blindfolded, and the two of them got to work. When they were done, they switched so that Utau and Yaya were blindfolded, putting makeup on Amu and Rima.

Kukai, an innocent bystander, was walking innocently down the hall, when he heard giggling, squealing, and screaming come from the girl's room. He couldn't help but wonder what the heck was going on, so he walked over there. The door was open, and when he peered in, what he saw nearly made _him_ scream.

The four beautiful girls that had once been in that room had been transformed into… something else. They were gathered around a hand-held mirror, looking at themselves. Yaya looked up and saw the confused boy in the doorway.

"Hi, Kukai!" she said. The other girls looked up, and Rima began laughing even harder than she had been before, probably at the expression on his face.

"Ummm…." Kukai began, backing away slowly, "I think… I'll just leave you to… whatever you are doing, and go… uh… somewhere!"

He fled.

Girls could be creepy.

**~Even later~**

Rima was sitting on her bed, reading gag manga. The sun had already gone down, and the girls had thoroughly washed their faces, and no longer looked like creeps. She was really quite satisfied, having had equal parts adventure and laughter in the day, but felt that there was still something that could make it even better. That something knocked on the door, and she ran to open it, dropping her manga on the ground

"Nagihiko!" she said happily as she wrapped her arms around the boy standing in the hall.

"Hey, Rima-chan," he said, returning the hug. When they pulled apart, he took her hand. "Come with me."

They went down the stairs, out the front door, and into the yard. Nagihiko pointed upward, and Rima caught her breath as her eyes followed his hand.

"I've never seen them so clear before," she commented, and he nodded.

"That's because we live in the city, and it's so bright there at night."

"You can even see the Milky Way!"

"Yeah. And each one of those stars is thousands of stars put together. And a lot of them are a whole lot bigger than our sun."

"How long would it take to travel there?" Rima turned to Nagihiko. He smirked.

"Planning on taking a trip to the stars, Rima?"

She was about to retort, but caught herself and said something else instead. "Only if you'll come with me."

"Nah," he replied, "I wouldn't let you go in the first place."

"Why not?"

"Don't you think it would be boring? Besides, it would take too long. Traveling at the speed of light, you still wouldn't be back after several years."

"They're really that far away?"

"Yep," Nagihiko said, putting his arm around Rima's waist. "Want to camp under the stars tonight, Rima-chan?"

She looked up at him, smiling, and nodded.

So, after Rima explained to Utau, Amu, and Yaya, they dragged a bunch of covers outside and stretched them out on the lawn. Rima and Nagihiko lay there, under the night sky, gazing at the stars. It wasn't long before they were both asleep.

**~Early in the morning~**

A sharp pain in Rima's scalp told her that her hair was being tugged at—or, more likely, since she was on the ground, someone was stepping on it. However, she was able to ignore this and didn't even open her eyes. She fell asleep again, despite the early-morning sunlight seeping through her eyelids.

Rima awoke a second time when she felt something warm and wet against her cheek. She was going to ignore it, but it didn't go away, and she heard snuffling noises being projected directly into her ear. Her hair was tugged on again, and she heard panting, like a dog.

Rima's eyes opened. Right next to her head, sitting on her hair, outlined in the light of the sun, was a dog.

It was, in fact, a puppy; a little blond lab puppy. It had big brown eyes and a button nose, and when it yawned, its long pink tongue curled and then began hanging out of its mouth as it panted. Its floppy, golden ears perked upward, and its tiny tail swished back and forth, as Rima gazed at it.

A faint chuckling sound came from beside her, and she turned to see Nagihiko wide awake, watching the girl and the dog.

"Two of the cutest things I've ever seen are right here in front of me," he said. Rima glared, crossing her arms.

"Fujisaki Nagihiko! Are you comparing me to a dog?" she demanded. Nagi sat up and held his hands up in defense.

"Nothing of the sort!"

"Oh yeah?" Rima challenged, still glaring, "Prove it."

Nagihiko sweat-dropped, and thought for a moment, staring at the puppy as it looked between the two, tail wagging. _Now why'd I have to go and say that? Of all the stupid messes to get myself into._

There was a silence, and eventually, the puppy whimpered. "I see you have nothing to say for yourse—mph!" Nagihiko had cut her off with a kiss.

"I wouldn't do that to the dog," he said, picking the puppy in question up. Rima seemed satisfied with this answer. "I wonder where he came from?"

"Well, none of us really know what's beyond this yard," Rima pointed out. "There might be neighbors."

"Yeah," Nagihiko said, stroking the dog's head. "He doesn't have a collar."

"Lots of people don't put collars on their dogs," said Rima. The puppy wiggled out of Nagihiko's hands and bounded into Rima's lap. It began to chew on one of her caramel-colored curls, and she sat bolt upright. "Hey!" she exclaimed, trying to pull her hair out of its mouth. The dog only pulled back, starting a game of tug-o'-war.

"He thinks you're playing with him," Nagihiko said. Rima glared as she managed to pry her hair from the puppy's mouth.

"_He_ is a _she_," she said, giving the dog an evil look as it stared at her innocently.

**~Right before breakfast~**

"She's so cute!" Yaya exclaimed, picking up the puppy, which happily licked her face. "Where'd you find her?" Yaya's excited, eager eyes turned to Rima, who crossed her arms and turned her nose away.

Nagihiko chuckled, "We found her in the front yard. She doesn't have a collar or anything. She and Rima got into a fight over Rima's hair."

"Who won?" Yaya asked, giggling.

"_I_ did, of course," Rima scoffed.

"What's her name?" Amu asked, petting the puppy's head hesitantly as it squirmed in Yaya's arms.

"She doesn't have one," said Nagihiko.

"What are you guys—hey, where'd that dog come from?" Kukai asked, entering the room.

Rima sighed in aggravation, "We found it in the front yard and it wouldn't go away, so we brought it inside."

Utau and Tadase walked in just in time to hear this. Kukai took the puppy from Yaya and placed it on the ground, where he promptly started playing with it. Tadase joined him.

"Did you guys name her?" asked Utau. Nagihiko shook his head.

"Yaya wants to name her! Yaya thinks her name should be Cocoa!"

"Why Cocoa?" Amu enquired.

"Besides," Kukai put out, "She's blond."

"Oh," Yaya said, and thought for a moment. "Her name should be Caramel!"

"That's too long," Tadase objected, "You need something that's easier to call."

"Twix!"

"That doesn't…"

"Snickers!"

"Well…"

"Milky Way!"

"Too long, again."

"Licorice!"

"She's blond."

"So is Tadase," Yaya pointed out.

"Yeah, but Tadase's name isn't 'Licorice'," Utau said, holding back laughter. Tadase looked slightly annoyed.

"Let's call her Jiji," said Amu. And thus, the puppy was named 'Jiji".

Kukai, Tadase, and Yaya were all playing on the floor with Jiji when Ikuto came down the stairs. The puppy saw him and immediately bolted from their grasps, running to the cat-boy.

Ikuto saw the blond missile coming toward him, and immediately ran away. However, Jiji was full of energy and chased him into the kitchen, where he climbed onto the island counter and stood there, watching the puppy bark up at him.

By now, mostly everyone else was doubled over, laughing. Ikuto let out a pitiful "nyaaa!" but no one came to his rescue.

Eventually, when she'd calmed her laughter enough, Amu wiped tears from her eyes and picked Jiji up, letting the poor, tormented Ikuto climb off of the counter.

However, this didn't prevent the puppy from following him around all day. And that was exactly what she did.

**A/N: I thought this chapter was kind of choppy. Sorry. I kind of cut it into a bunch of pieces, and it doesn't flow very well. Also, I over-exaggerated on some things, mostly just to make them funnier. I don't think Ground Blooms would really do that much damage, but I can't say for sure, since I haven't ever set them off in my kitchen. Also, I don't think Kukai would be that freaked from seeing the girl's after they did blind makeovers. Haha. Anyway, I hope you got a few laughs out of this.**

**Leave me a review, onegai!**

**Arigato!**


	20. Day Thirteen

**A/N: I apologize for not updating in such a long time. I'm busier now than I am during the school year!**

**There will only be a few more chapters of this fic. I'm going to try to finish it before summer break ends. I can estimate about two more chapters (not including this one) and an epilogue.**

The Million Dollar Bet

Day Thirteen

Barking, barking, and more barking!

It was driving Ikuto insane. That dumb puppy was following him everywhere, and now she wanted to follow him onto the roof! What did she think she was—_a cat_?

Ikuto glanced at the puppy on the balcony as she stared innocently up at him. Jiji now had a red ribbon tied in a bow around her neck, courtesy of Yaya. The dog's large brown eyes shone in the sunlight, and her tiny tail wagged back and forth happily.

The dog would be perfectly fine right there like that, but then she had to go and open her mouth. Annoying little yipping sounds came out, and when Ikuto continued to ignore her, she began to cry.

The deplorable noise was so dreadfully unbearable that Ikuto was forced to consent to Jiji's will. He jumped off the roof, picked up the puppy, and jumped back onto the roof with her.

Jiji, once she was up there, no longer agreed with her own decision. She wanted _down_ immediately. After squirming out of Ikuto's grasp, Jiji's paws met the shingles of the roof, and she slid. The gutter barely stopped her decent as her legs caught in it.

An odd panicking sensation washed over Ikuto for a moment as he watched Jiji loose her footing. All his catlike instincts were telling him to sit right where he was and let the little dog fall. But something else drove him to help, and that something was overpowering.

He jumped to the edge of the roof and scooped the little blond puppy out of the gutter she was barely hanging onto. Her tiny, sharp nails dug into Ikuto's arms, and he cringed as he carried Jiji off the roof.

**~Inside~**

"Yaya thinks Amu should be with Ikuto," Yaya blurted out of the blue. She, Utau, Amu, Rima and Nagihiko were all sitting in the living room with nothing to do. Amu blushed madly.

"Why's that?" asked Utau.

"Because it sounds better!" Yaya said. "Tsukiyomi Amu sounds much better than Hotori Amu." The girl in question became even more flustered.

"You're right, it does," Nagihiko nodded. By now Amu was speechless.

"It's funny how some names just sound bad, and others work well together," Rima stated. "Like how Hotori Utau sounds awful." She giggled a little bit.

Nagihiko smirked. "Fujisaki Rima doesn't sound bad at all."

The petite blond turned bright red very quickly and hid her face in her knees. Nagihiko put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Rima-chan. I didn't mean to embarrass you," he said. She shook her head.

"Fujisaki Rima," she muttered so quietly that only Nagihiko, who was sitting right next to her, could hear, "Fujisaki Rima is a great name." He smiled and wrapped his arm around her.

"Aww," squealed Yaya, having not heard the last part of the aforementioned conversation, "Rima-tan and Nagi-kun are so cute!"

**~A while later~**

Ikuto glanced behind him as he walked back to the house. Jiji was following him like a puppy-dog, which indeed she was, and the bow around her neck had come untied. It was hanging loosely and she was tripping over it.

The whole thing was annoying Ikuto, so he decided to help the puppy. Bending down, he picked her up and took the bow off. After stuffing the ribbon in his pocket, he set Jiji back on the ground and continued walking towards the house.

He opened the door and let it slam closed behind him, forgetting the puppy at his feet. Instantly, a horrendous racket erupted from the puppy as she began to cry as if her mother had abandoned her. Ikuto cringed slightly and reopened the door. Jiji leapt into the house, tail wagging, and gazed happily up at him.

Ikuto shook his head and looked away. There was no way that puppy was beginning to seem cute. He walked into the living room to see Yaya jumping around and waving her arms while Amu, Utau, Nagihiko and Rima shouted out different words. Somehow, their conversation had turned into a game of charades.

"We give up, Yaya!" Amu exclaimed. "What is it?"

"Yaya's supposed to be an emu trying to fly! Yaya can't believe you guys can't guess it!" Yaya wailed.

"Yaya, why would you want to be an emu?" Rima asked.

"Because they're so ugly they're cute!"

"That doesn't make sense," Utau said, crossing her arms.

Jiji barked, announcing her and Ikuto's arrival. Yaya squealed and grabbed the puppy, while Ikuto sat next to Amu and began to torment her, pleased to be relieved of Jiji, if only for a little while.

**~Outside, where the charas are digging a hole to America~**

A clinking sound could be heard as the metal spoons that the charas were digging with hit something solid.

"What's this ~dechu?" Peppe tapped the hard object. The charas gathered around and studied it.

"It's a rock," Miki concluded.

"Is it the earth's core ~nya?"

"The center of the earth!" Kusukusu giggled in delight.

"There's no way we'll be able to dig through that," Iru said.

"I didn't think the earth's core would be this close to the surface," said Ran.

"Keep digging!" Kiseki roared from the top of the hole.

"We hit a rock ~desu," Suu explained.

**~Inside, again~**

After a while, Jiji had gotten fed up with Yaya, and she retreated to Ikuto's lap. Of course, Ikuto wasn't happy about this, but found it impossible to move the puppy because when he set her on the ground, she'd jump right back into his lap again. Amu found this exceedingly amusing.

Eventually, Ikuto got fed up and left. Jiji trotted loyally behind him, and he ignored her. He walked out the front door, across the yard, over the bridge, and found a pleasant place in the sun to take a nap.

"It's time for dinner!" Yaya yelled, running into the kitchen. Tadase and Kukai were already in there, and they were talking to the charas, who were sitting on the island counter.

"You were doing _what_?" Kukai asked in disbelief.

"Digging a hole to America," said Kiseki as if it were the most ordinary, every-day thing anyone had every thought of.

"And we hit rock," Rhythm added.

"Why were you digging a hole to America?" Yaya asked, her interest sparking.

"To take over the world," Tadase said, his cheeks tinting pink.

"Oh, well is there any candy around?" she skipped to the refrigerator and poked her head inside. "OOOHHH! Chocolate cake!" Placing the cake on the island counter, she yelled, "Nagi, can I eat the cake you made?"

"Go ahead," Nagihiko's voice called from the other room.

Yaya got a plate out and cut an exceedingly large slice for herself. At that moment, Tadase chara-changed with Kiseki, and insisted that chocolate was for royalty, and a commoner like Yaya shouldn't eat it. In turn, Yaya chara-changed with Peppe and began wailing.

The noise of both of them put together was enough to wake Ikuto up outside. He came back in—Jiji following, of course—to see what was happening. By the time he got there, everyone was in a chara-change, and he soon joined them.

Amu/Ran was cheering for who knew what, while Tadase/Kiseki argued with Yaya/Peppe about the chocolate cake. Rima/Kusukusu couldn't stop giggling, and Utau/Eru was saying something about "looooooovvvvveee". Nagihiko/Rhythm and Kukai/Daichi were playing basketball without a basket and a ball that had appeared out of nowhere. Ikuto/Yoru caught sight of Utau's pigtails and began batting them back and forth. Utau didn't really seem to notice.

The whole first story of the house was a mess by the time everyone's chara-changes had come undone. Amu and Nagihiko cleaned the mess up while Ikuto was forced to make dinner. Jiji kept getting under his feet and tripping him, so there were many puddles and spills of things all over the kitchen floor by the time he was done.

When everyone sat down for dinner, and Yaya placed a portion of the food in a bowl on the ground for Jiji, no one felt like eating.

"Ikuto-nii-san, not to be rude, but what is this?" Tadase asked, stirring the substance in his bowl with a spoon.

"What'cha'got stew," he answered.

There was an uncomfortable silence in which nobody touched the dinner that was prepared for them—not even the dog.

They ended up eating instant ramen instead.

When everyone marched up the stairs to go to sleep, Jiji followed them. As Ikuto crawled into his bed, Jiji stared at him innocently, wagging her tail and panting. She yawned, her long pink tongue curling, and let out a little whine. _That_ noise was one of the most obnoxious things on the planet.

Ikuto ignored her.

Jiji whined again, and kept whining, and whining, and whining. From across the room, he could hear Kukai mutter something inaudible. The puppy stopped whining and just stared at Ikuto.

He shook his head. _There is no way that puppy is beginning to seem cute_, he thought. After a moment of staring at her, Ikuto lifted Jiji off the floor and set her at the end of his bed. The content puppy curled into a ball and fell asleep immediately. Ikuto rolled his eyes and tried to go to sleep.

**~Sometime in the middle of the night~**

Rima stared at the dark ceiling, blinking occasionally. She was bored, and couldn't sleep, although she had no idea why. Something inside her wanted to run to Nagihiko, simply to be in his presence. But she didn't want to wake him just so she could be with him. No, Nagihiko was probably sound asleep, dreaming about dancing and basketball. Rima smiled at this thought, hoping it was the truth.

A soft thumping sound startled Rima, and she sat up as she looked around the room. All the other girls were still asleep. A tall shadowy figure stood on the balcony, silhouetted in the sliding glass door.

Rima crept across the room and slid onto the balcony quietly so as not to wake the others.

"Nagihiko, what are you doing?" she hissed. To her surprise, he knelt before her and kissed her hand.

"Milady, I hath come to declare my undying love for thee."

A tick mark appeared on Rima's head as she noticed the pair of headphones around his neck.

"Stop acting silly," she dragged him to his feet. Frankly, the whole kneeling thing had made her uncomfortable. "Why are you here?"

"I've come to serenade you!"

"No! Don't do that!" she protested. Nagihiko cocked his head to the side.

"Why not?"

"Because if you sing, you'll wake everyone else up."

"Oh, good point," he smirked, "I'll just do this, then."

Nagi picked Rima up like a princess and jumped straight onto the roof. She clung to him and wouldn't let go until she was sure the roof wouldn't cave in, or she loose her footing.

"Now why'd you do that?"

"It was Rhythm's fault!" Nagihiko said. The headphones had disappeared by now.

"It's okay," Rima said to Nagi's shock. "I couldn't sleep, anyway."

She sat on the roof and hugged her knees. He sat next to her and did the same as they stared at the sky, silent. Words were unnecessary. Simply being together was more than enough for either of them.

An hour had passed just like that before Nagihiko spoke. "Hey, Rima, guess what?"

"What?" she turned to face him.

"I love you," he said.

"That was lame," Rima stated. He frowned.

"I just confessed my love to you, and you say it's lame?" through the darkness, she could see a hint of teasing in his eyes.

"Well, it was. Had I not already known that, it might now have been lame."

"That's okay. You don't mind a little bit of lameness, do you?"

"As long as it's not lame comedy," Rima confirmed, letting her head drop onto Nagihiko's shoulder.

There was another long, comfortable silence. Tomorrow is our last full day here," Nagihiko commented.

"I know," Rima frowned. "I'm not looking forward to going home."

"It's going to be hard," he agreed. "We're used to this now, and going back to normal life can't be pleasant."

"We won't be able to do things like this all the time, either."

"It's nice living under the same roof. But nothing will _really_ change when we go home."

"What do you mean? Rima raised her head to look him in the face.

"Well, it's going to sound really sappy," Nagihiko began.

"Th-that's okay," her cheeks tinted a light pink and she put her head back on his shoulder.

"Rima-chan, every day I fall even more in love with you. And every day I think that my heart is so full of love for you that it wouldn't be possible for anyone to ever love anyone more. Yet every day, my heart grows another inch, and I dedicate it to you."

Rima wrapped her arms around him. "It's okay to be sappy," she said, "I know exactly what you mean.

"You do?" Nagihiko looked at her in shock, and noted that her face was bright red.

"Y-yeah. That's kind of the same way it is with me."

"Let's not change."

"What?" Rima asked, confused.

"Let's not change. Like it or not, we're going to have to go home. So when we do, let's still do things like this: like sitting on the roof in the middle of the night."

"Okay," she agreed. Nagihiko put his arm around her and rested his head on her own.

"Hey, Rima-chan?"

"Yeah?"

"I really do love you."

"I know," she smiled.

**A/N: Sorry for the sappiness of that. I just felt like writing lots of Rimahiko, so I did.**

** I don't like this chapter. It was sloppily written, but I really need to update soon, so here it is.**

** Review?**


	21. Day Fourteen, Part One

**A/N: Sorry, guys, I've been really busy with moving and have been feeling unmotivated to write. My goal is to finish this fic before my school stars, but I don't know if that's possible, since my laptop doesn't have Microsoft word, so I won't be able to type things up until my sister hooks the computers up at the new house. So as of now, I can't say when I'll update.**

The Million Dollar Bet

Day Fourteen, Part One

"Rima-tan!" Yaya's voice woke the sleeping girl. She kept her eyes shut. "Rima-tan, wake up! Why are you so tired?"

_Tired…_ Rima thought sleepily. Well, she had an answer to that question.

**~Flashback~ss**

"Look," said Nagihiko, pointing eastward. Rima did. "The sun is coming up."

True to his word, light was beginning to seep into the inky sky. It was just a little bit, but it was enough to remind them that it was, indeed, morning, and they had been on the roof all night.

"How could it be morning already?" Rima wondered aloud. "It doesn't seem like it's been that long. 

"I know," Nagihiko replied. "And we should get to bed. We'll both be really tired later."

Rima nodded as he rose to his feet and helped her up. After climbing off the roof, onto the balcony outside the girls' room, she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his chest. Nagihiko held her for a while, but eventually she pulled away.

"I love you, Nagi," said Rima as she crept back into the girls' bedroom.

**~End flashback~**

"Rima-tan won't wake up!" Yaya whined to Amu.

"Maybe she's sick," Amu said, walking to Rima's bed and placing a hand on the tiny blonde's forehead. "She doesn't feel sick."  
"She might just be tired," said Utau, waving a hand dismissively. "We can come check on her later. For now, let's go eat breakfast."

"Okay!"

"Sure."

The girls walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, only to find that there was no one in there.

"That's strange," said Amu, "Nagi usually cooks breakfast."

"He isn't even in here," Utau sat at the island counter and rested her head on her fist. All three heads turned at a small barking sound. Ikuto entered the kitchen, Jiji bouncing at his feet and barking.

"What do I feed her?" he asked, pointing to the puppy.

"How should I know?" scoffed Utau.

"Ikuto, have you seen Nagi?" Amu asked, ignoring the question about Jiji's breakfast.

"He's still asleep, I think," said Ikuto.

Tadase and Kukai appeared in the kitchen. "We can't wake Fujisaki-kun," said Tadase.

"Well, we can," Kukai said, "But he goes right back to sleep again."

"Rima-tan won't wake up, either!" exclaimed Yaya.

Utau smirked. "That's no coincidence."

"But," Amu's eyes widened, and she didn't finish her sentence.

"It's okay," said Utau, "Just let them sleep. We'll pry information out of them later."

"Who's going to make breakfast?" Tadase asked.

"I will!" Amu said as a clover appeared in her hair.

**~Around lunch time~**

"Hello, Amu-chan," said Rima, yawning. "What time is it?"

"Nearly noon," the pinkette replied in her 'cool'n'spicy' voice.

"Oh," Rima didn't seem surprised.

"Why did you sleep so late? You had us kind of worried."

"I stayed up late," she said.

"Nagi is still asleep," Amu said, narrowing her eyes.

"No I'm not," Nagihiko's voice came from the doorway. Both girls turned to see him standing there, not looking at all like someone who had stayed up all night.

"Hi, Nagi," Rima smiled.

"Why did you guys sleep in so late?" Amu demanded.

"Oh," said Nagihiko, "We stayed up all night on the roof."

"What were you doing on the roof?"

"Y'know," Rima answered vaguely, "Sitting." Amu's eyes narrowed as she glanced between them.

"That's _all_?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Nagihiko nodded.

"Are you _sure_?"

"Yep. We didn't even kiss," he said. Rima shot him a glare.

"Why were you sitting on the roof?"

"Because we wanted to," Rima said, crossing her arms.

"Okay," Amu sighed, giving up trying to figure the situation out.

"Hey, where is everyone?" asked Rima, glancing around the room.

"Outside," she replied. "I'm about to go out there, too." Amu headed toward the front door, Rima and Nagihiko trailing behind her. As soon as the door was opened, they all stood still, taking in the scene in front of them.

On the front porch, Kukai and Utau were each organizing an army of miniature paper tanks. They filled up most of the porch, except for a strip in the middle that separated them into different teams. Kukai and Utau were standing in the clearing.

"Here," Kukai handed Utau a lighter, and took one for himself.

"Winner gets whatever she or he wants," Utau said. He nodded in agreement.

"What are you _doing_?" Rima asked in astonishment.

"What does it look like?" asked Utau.

"It looks dangerous," Nagihiko said.

"Blowing up the front porch could be considered 'disastrous'," Amu pointed out.

"We found these in the attic," Kukai explained, ignoring their comments. "We're having a battle."

"I advise you stand back," said Utau.

"Let's go through the other door," Amu suggested, and closed the front door, leaving the competitive couple to do what they wanted.

"On the count of three, we'll light them and step back," Kukai said. Utau nodded. "One… two… three!"

Both of them bent down and each lit one of the tanks, then retreated off the porch to watch. Sizzling sounds came from the tanks, and a shower of sparks spouted out the back of each of them as they zoomed toward each other. Bursts of flame shot out the front of them, lighting each other on fire.

In the process, some of the other tanks were ignited, and began rolling forward, showering flames and sparks in all directions. Three of Utau's imploded and four of Kukai's did the same within the first few minutes.

When all sparks ceased, they walked back onto the porch and lit the few tanks that hadn't been ignited by the others, and watched them shoot at each other. It didn't take long for those to die, and afterward, they inspected the damage to each of their armies.

"How many do you have that are burnt?" Kukai asked as they sat on the steps.

"Fifteen," said Utau.

"Fourteen," he grinned. "I win."

"Fine," she crossed her arms. "What do you want?"

Cupping her chin, he lifted her face and pressed his lips against hers. Utau responded immediately and it was quite awhile before they pulled away.

"That's all you wanted?" she asked, slightly out of breath.

"No," Kukai smirked, and kissed her again, even longer this time.

**~Meanwhile~**

Amu closed the door and began to walk toward the back door, Nagihiko and Rima following her. Suddenly, Yaya burst into the kitchen, dragging a somewhat frightened Tadase with her.

"Hey, Rima-tan, Nagi-kun, want to play a game with Yaya and Tadase?"

"Okay," said Rima, stopping and following Yaya instead.

"Nagi has to play, too! There has to be an even number!" Yaya insisted.

"Alright, Yaya, I'll play," Nagihiko agreed, and went with the other three into the living room. Amu sighed and continued outside. She could use a walk to sort out her thoughts, anyway.

As she wandered through the large English gardens, Amu's thoughts drifted to the topic that she was usually thinking about: Ikuto and Tadase. She had feelings for both of them, for sure, but the feelings were different. And she didn't know how to describe either of them.

At first, she'd thought of asking Rima. After all, Rima knew what love was like. And she _was_ her best friend. But then… their cases were so different. The blonde chibi had come across it in a completely different way, and she probably wouldn't be able to recognize Amu's situation.

As Amu rounded the corner, she stopped dead in her tracks. In fact, she even ceased breathing for a moment as to remain silent. Quietly, she snuck back around the corner and poked her head out so she could still see what was going on.

Ikuto was kneeling on the ground, with Jiji hopping around him and barking occasionally. He looked almost as if he was encouraging the puppy, and he spoke to her in a tone Amu had never heard him use before. It occurred to Amu that Ikuto was _playing_ with Jiji.

Covering her mouth, Amu tried to keep from giggling. She sank into a sitting position against the wall, smiling as the weirdest sensation appeared in her chest. She gasped and put her face in her hands, shaking her head back and forth rapidly. _No, no, no, no, no!_ she thought to herself, but the feeling didn't go away. _Crap. I'm in love with Ikuto._

**~Meanwhile, inside~**

"So here is Yaya's idea!"

"What is it?" Tadase asked.

"In Yaya's game, we split into pairs and blindfold one person in each pair. Then the person that isn't blindfolded spins the other around and around and leads them somewhere in the house. The blindfolded person has to guess what room they're in."

"Actually, that sounds like fun," Rima said.

"Yay!" Yaya exclaimed, "Okay, the pairs are Rimahiko and Tadaya!"

"Umm… how did you come up with those names?" Nagihiko asked.

"I mixed your names together: Rima-tan and Nagi-kun are Rimahiko, and Yaya and Tadase-kun are Tadaya!:

"O-okay," said Tadase, turning slightly pink.

"Yaya wants to be blindfolded first!" she magically procured two blindfolds, and handed one to Rima, who tied it around Nagihiko's head.

After spinning him around and around, Rima put her hands on Nagi's shoulders and walked him through the kitchen, into the pantry, out of the pantry, across the entryway, around in circles, and into the dining room, where they stopped.

"Okay, where are we?" she asked.

"The kitchen," he replied.

"Nope," giggled Rima.

"The dining room?"

"Uh-huh," she removed the blindfold, and he blinked, taking in the light.

"Okay, Rima, your turn," said Nagihiko, placing the blindfold over the petite blonde's eyes and tying it around her head. He spun her around several times and placed his hands on her shoulders to guide her. As Nagi began to push her forward, Rima braced her feet and gasped.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't do it!"  
"Why not?"

"What if you run me into something?"

"I won't, I promise," he assured her. She shook her head.

"My feet won't move. They think I'll run into something."

"Rima-chan, I wouldn't let you run into anything," said Nagihiko, draping his arms around her from behind. "I promise. Just walk forward with me."

Rima found it surprisingly easy to walk blindly when she was in Nagihiko's embrace, and soon relaxed as she realized she was safe. In fact, it was kind of fun spinning around and walking about in the dark.

It felt almost like dancing, and she began to quietly hum a happy tune. At this, Nagihiko chuckled, and Rima smiled as she hummed. They turned several times, walked forward for a while, and stopped. Rima stopped humming.

"Okay, where are we?"

"The living room?"

"No."

"The entryway."

"No."

"The hallway?"

"No."

"The kitchen."

"No."

"The dining room?"

"No."

"The bathroom?"

"No."

"The pantry."

"Yes!" Nagihiko spun her around so she was facing him and planted a kiss on her lips. A tiny, shocked gasp escaped her and her face turned bright red as she blushed. He pulled the blindfold off and Rima clenched her eyes shut, then slowly opened them again.

"Th-thanks," she said. Nagihiko laughed.

"Rima-chan, you still blush when I kiss you," he pointed out.

"Shut up," she crossed her arms and pouted, her blush turning even redder than before.

"Rima-tan, Nagi-kun!" Yaya called, dancing into the pantry. "We have to set up for the party tonight!"

"Where's Hotori-kun?" Nagihiko asked.

"Yaya sent him to get Amu and the others," she explained.

"So what do we need to do?" Rima asked, stepping out of the giant pantry and into the kitchen.

**A/N: Sorry that was short. But I put in lots of fluff to make up for it :D By the way, this will not end in Tadaya. (sorry Tadaya fans) I just used Tadase because everyone else was busy.**

** Anyway, I hope you liked it!**

** Please review! It will help motivate me to write faster.**


	22. Day Fourteen, Part 2

**A/N: Well, this is the last chapter. And then there will be an epilogue. I feel really sad to end this. But then at least I won't have to think about it anymore! Anway, you guys asked for Kutau, so I here it is. They might be OOC. I'm really tired, so I can't tell.**

**Warning: This chapter, the one before it, and possibly the one after it, are loaded with fluff and may contain an unreasonable amount of kissing and sappy dialogue. If you dislike or are alergic to sappyness or fluff, please know that you have been warned. But in that case, why would you even be reading this story?**

The Million Dollar Bet

Day Fourteen, Part Two

"Hey, Rima-chan," said Amu, grabbing the blonde chibi by the arm. Rima turned her head in Amu's direction.

"What is it?" she asked, setting the tray of snacks she was carrying on the counter.

"Umm... I need to talk to you," she pulled her aside, and the two girls retreated into a corner of the downstairs living room.

"What's the matter, Amu-chan?"

The pinkette scrunched her eyes shut and blurted very quickly and very quietly, "I think I'm in love with Ikuto."

"You are?" Rima raised an eyebrow. "And why are you telling _me_ this?"

"Because you're my best friend," Amu said with a pleading look. "Don't you have any advice?"

"Ummm," she tapped her chin. "Yeah. Why don't you tell him?"

"Whaaa?" Amu looked shocked, and Rima rolled her eyes.

"It's not that big of a deal. It was bound to happen someday," she said. "And better Ikuto than Tadase." The last part she mumbled quietly enough that Amu couldn't hear it.

"W-when should I t-tell him?"

"I don't know," Rima shrugged, "How about now?"

"No!" Amu exclaimed. "I can't!"

"Why not?"

"I-" she sighed and didn't finish her sentence.

"Then tell him later," Rima said, turning to go back to whatever she had been doing.

"B-but," Amu began, and her friend turned back around again to look her in the face. The two of them just stared at each other, Amu's face pleading for advice, and Rima's face bored and indifferent. Finally, she sighed.

"Why don't you ask Utau?"

"Because... she's Ikuto's sister!"

"So? She knows him better, then. Maybe she'll be able to help you."

**~In the attic~**

"Here, take these," Kukai said, handing Utau a box full of... something. He picked up another box and the two of them walked down both flights of stairs and through the living room.

"What are you guys doing?" Amu asked as they passed her.

"You'll see," Kukai grinned and continued toward the front door.

"I don't know what we're doing, either," Utau told Amu as she followed Kukai.

The two of them walked outside carrying the boxes and went all the way to the edge of the yard, where they set them down on the grass.

"Okay, now we need to find a lighter."

"Kukai, what are we doing?" Utau asked seriously.

"Setting up fireworks!" he replied, giving her a thumbs-up.

"For the party tonight?"

"Yep," he said, picking an object wrapped in colorful paper out of one of the boxes. "These big ones stay over here. The small ones will go back to the house so we can set them off on the porch."

"Is that a good idea?"

"I don't see why not," he replied, and started stacking fireworks. Utau helped him, and placed all the small ones in one of the boxes. They carried that box back to the house and set it on the porch.

"Maybe we shouldn't leave it here like this," Utau mused, looking at the box of fireworks warily.

"Why?"

"Well, remember what Yaya nearly did? And then there's Jiji. I don't know much about dogs, but she probably can't tell the difference between fireworks and food."

"Good point," Kukai agreed, moving the box onto the table on the front porch. "I don't think Yaya will do anything to these, and Jiji can't reach them up here."

"Okay, now what?" Utau plopped onto the steps and placed her chin on her fist. Grabbing her free hand, Kukai pulled her back up, his expression unreadable, and dragged her around the side of the house. She didn't protest, but simply let him take her wherever they were going.

As they came around the back of the house, he tripped over something on the ground, and barely caught his balance in time not to fall. Utau stopped abruptly in front of the thing he'd tripped over.

"What's that doing there?" Kukai asked, peering at it.

"I think we've found the charas' project," she stated. "And there's the video camera that disappeared." True to her word, a few feet away the video camera lay on the ground, dirty and looking a bit battered. She picked it up and turned it on, flipping the little screen out of the camera so they could both see what was on it. When Utau pushed the button that played what had been recorded, both of them began to laugh.

On the screen, Kiseki ordered some very weary looking charas to dig here and there as they scooped dirt out of the ground with table spoons. They were all yawning, and many were complaining about the work.

"We didn't ever finish our movie, but our charas made their own," Kukai chuckled. Suddenly, the screen flickered and the camera went dead. Utau smacked it, but it refused to turn back on.

"Oh well," she said, tossing it aside. "Weren't we going somewhere?"

"Yeah," he replied, taking her hand again, and led her a ways into the huge English garden. He didn't stop until they were behind a tall hedge and the only part of the house they could see was a tiny bit of the roof. When they got there, Kukai looked Utau in the eyes with a very serious face.

"What?" Utau asked blankly.

"I should have done this a long time ago," he said. "I don't know why I didn't. I guess I never really got the chance to confess to you. So... I love you, Utau." Taking a step closer to her, he placed his hand on her cheek and gently caressed her face. Utau was blushing like mad.

"I love you, too, Kukai," she said, closing her eyes to fight the blush. Kukai took advantage of her moment of vulnerability, and kissed her lips.

Grinning, Utau opened her eyes as their foreheads rested against one another. "That was nice," she said, "But I know you can do better." Kukai also grinned and crashed his lips against hers without hesitation. She wound her arms around his neck, kissing him back, trying to put all her love into that one action.

**~Later, Near the pond~**

_Splash!_

Ikuto's head turned and he immediately groaned as he saw what had made the noise. Jiji had jumped into the pond, and was now swimming to shore. When she emerged from the water, her golden coat was soaked, and water droplets were streaming off the ends of her tail and ears.

She shook herself and water went flying in a two foot radius of her. Ikuto was fortunate enough to be five feet away, and didn't get wet. As the little blond puppy began to run towards him, her feet splashed mud up from the swampy ground in all directions.

"Jiji," Ikuto growled, looking at the dog disapprovingly. She looked up at him innocently, her pink tongue hanging out of her wide-open mouth and her tiny tail wagging back and forth vigorously. It was obvious that the puppy would need a bath. And Ikuto did _not_ want to be the one to deliver it.

However, he picked Jiji up and carried her to the house, despite her squirming. The moment he entered, he was slightly surprised by the change the living room had taken. All the furniture had been pushed against the walls, leaving the whole room and the entryway empty. Rima, Utau, Yaya, Tadase, and Kukai were all standing around something. Ikuto set Jiji on the ground and walked over to see what they were doing.

"We found a karaoke machine in the attick," Tadase explained.

"Uh-oh," Rima pointed to Jiji, who was running around on the hardwood floor, getting dirt all over the place.

"Somebody has to give that dog a bath, and it's not going to be me," Ikuto stated.

"I'll do it!" Kukai volunteered, snatching the puppy off the ground.

"I'll help," Utau said, throwing the wires of several different speakers to the ground in aggravation. "As long as I don't have to figure out how this machine works."

"Well now someone has to wash the floor," Rima said. "How about Yaya and Ikuto."

"Why Yaya?" Yaya whined.

"Because you two are the only ones that don't have something better to do. So make yourselves useful by washing the floor."

So Ikuto and Yaya were stuck washing the floor while everyone else retreated from the living room to who-knows-where.

**~Outside~**

"How is this going to work?" Kukai asked, holding a squirming, dirty Jiji. Utau picked up the garden hose.

"You hold the dog, and I'll hose her off."

"But we need some soap or something," he said, looking at the puppy thoughtfully. The side door could be heard opening and closing, and Tadase came running toward them. He had a bottle of something in his hand, and he handed it to Utau.

"It's baby shampoo," he explained. "Use it to wash Jiji, because it won't hurt if you get any in her eyes."

"Thanks," she said, and Tadase ran back into the house.

"..."

"..."

"That was weird," Kukai stated. Utau nodded in agreement and turned on the hose. She held it above Jiji, who didn't seem to mind the stream of water at all. When she was completely wet, both Kukai and Utau knelt on the ground and lathered the dog until she was almost totally white, with the exception of her head.

The grass was soaked, and every time Jiji tried to walk, she would slip. The puppy was not very cooperative, and when she decided she was bored of being bathed, she tried to escape. Utau pounced on the little dog as she scrambled away. In the process, she slipped on the wet ground which was covered in suds.

Soap and water went flying everywhere.

The hose, having been abandoned, was writhing about on the ground like it was alive, and managed to hit Kukai in the face. At the end of it all, everyone was covered in suds, soaked to the bone, and at least a little bit irritated. Well, besides Jiji. She was looking quite pleased with herself. Shaking the water out of her fur, she trotted back to the house, leaving Kukai and Utau sitting in a wet and soapy puddle.

There was a long silence in which the only thing that could be heard was the water rushing out of the hose and flooding the lawn. The puddle was slowly growing larger and larger, as the two of them sat there, dumbfounded.

A small chuckle emanated from Kukai. Utau giggled a little bit. Within moments, both were rolling on the ground laughing.

**~Inside~**

Ikuto and Yaya scrubbed in silence. It was slightly awkward, but neither of them really had anything to say. After about five minutes, a quiet tune could be heard coming from Yaya's direction. It slowly grew louder and louder, until Ikuto could finally make out the words.

"Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow, back to my home, I dare not go! For if I do, my mother will say... "Have you ever seen a cat wearing a hat down by the bay?" Down by the bay!" Yaya sang. She continued, replacing the last part with something new each time. Ikuto listened in amusement, not really minding that much.

"For if I do, my mother will say... "Have you ever seen a goat eating a boat down by the bay?" down by the bay!" sang Yaya. She kept singing and singing, slowly getting louder.

"Hey, Yaya?" Ikuto interrupted her. She stopped abruptly and turned to him.

"Yes?"

"Your mother is weird."

She gave him a weird look and went back to singing. After another ten minutes or so, she stopped and said, "Iku-kun! Sing with Yaya!"

"No."

It was a long time before Yaya ran out of things for her mother to say. Ikuto had been inwardly chuckling at the things she came up with, and was surprised when she didn't have one. "My mother will say... say... say... ummm..."

Silence.

"Have you ever seen a bear combing his hair?" Ikuto's deep voice prompted. Yaya's face brightened, and she used the suggestion, adding it to her endless song. But she ran out of ideas again very soon.

"Iku-kun, help Yaya."

"Have you ever seen a llama in his pajamas?"

"Down by the bay! Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow," Yaya began the verse over again. Ikuto slowly joined in, singing very quietly. He had to admit it was kind of fun.

Amu, who was bringing a bowl of chips into the living room, stopped in the doorway at the sound of Ikuto and Yaya singing together. She peered around the corner to see that the two of them were nearly finished washing the floor, and both were singing "Down by the Bay".

"Have you ever seen a rhinoceros dance with a hippopotamus?" Yaya sang and they chorused the rest. Amu watched as Ikuto came up with the next line.

"Have you ever seen a dog stuck in a bog?" his voice sounded odd singing something like that. Amu gasped and turned back around the corner. She found herself grinning from ear to ear. This was a side of Ikuto that she knew existed but never saw. It was something so rare, yet so comforting. She felt truly happy watching him sing childish songs with Yaya.

**~Later~**

That evening, after an elegant dinner cooked by Nagihiko, Amu, and Suu, everyone gathered in the downstairs living room, which had been turned into a dance floor. The girls had found some cool lights in the attic, and they had set them up around the room. One of them attached to the stereo and moved about in time to the music. Another one flashed short, bright white lights so that it looked like everything was in stop-motion.

The first thing they did was karaoke, since they had taken the trouble to set up the whole system for it. Nobody really wanted to sing at first, but Yaya was easily persuaded. She sang a song about candy. Tadase sang something from an old musical. Kukai decided to go next.

"Utau, this song is for you," he said before he began.

_We should get jerseys, 'cause we make a good team_

_But yours would look better than mine, 'cause your out of my league_

_And I know that it's so cliche to tell you that every day_

_I spend with you is the new best day of my life_

_And everyone watching us just turns away with disgust_

_It's jealousy, they can see that we've got it going on_

_I'm racking my brain for a new, improved way_

_To let you know you're more to me than what I know how to say_

_You're okay with the way this is going to be_

_This is going to be the best thing we've ever seen_

_If anyone could make me a better person you could_

_All I gotta say is I must have done something good_

_You came along one day and you rearranged my life_

_All I gotta say is I must have done something right_

_I must have done something right_

_Maybe I'm just lucky, 'cause it's hard to believe_

_Believe that somebody like you'd end up with someone like me_

_And I know that it's so cliche to talk about you this way_

_But I'll put all my inhibitions aside_

_It's so very obvious to everyone watching us_

_That we've got something real good going on_

_I'm racking my brain for a new, improved way_

_To let you know you're more to me than what I know how to say_

_You're okay with the way this is going to be_

_This is going to be the best thing we've ever seen_

_If anyone could make me a better person you could_

_All I gotta say is I must have done something good_

_You came along one day and you rearranged my life_

_All I gotta say is I must have done something right_

_I must have done something right_

Kukai sang the last chorus three times, and finished with a bow. He walked to Utau, who was blushing like mad.

"What did I do right?" he asked. She just hugged him without a response.

"You were slightly off-key, but that was pretty good."

By nine'o'clock, everyone but Ikuto had sung, and he refused to. Neither Yaya or Amu said anything about the "Down by the Bay" song, earlier. They moved on to dancing.

At first they danced several line dances and group dances, and—upon Yaya's insistence—the chicken dance. None of them would deny that it was a lot of fun, even if they did look absurd. Eventually they all split into pairs or danced individually.

Rima giggled as Nagihiko spun her outward and she came flying back in so that she was wrapped in his arms from behind. Nagihiko smiled and twirled them both around at the same time, a feat that was a bit more difficult with their height difference. When it came to the slower music, Rima was quite sure what to do. She admitted that she had never done that type of a dance before.

"It's really easy," Nagihiko said, "Just try to move in unison." He pulled her close and placed one of her hands on his shoulder, wrapping his arm around her waist, and took her other hand in his. It took a while for Rima to get the hang of it, but she managed.

"I kind of like this," she said quietly as they swayed back and forth. "It's a lot different than dancing like we were before, but I like it."

"Good," he kissed the top of her head and held her tightly. When the song ended, everyone switched partners, and Rima was reluctant to pull away.

Having switched partners, Amu was now dancing with Ikuto. She found herself blushing just at the thought of him, and didn't try to fight it. It would be useless to do so. Her mind was racing, and something inside her was urging her to just blurt out her thoughts. To confess to Ikuto right there.

"I-Ikuto, are you k-kidding when you say that you l-lo... l-l-love me?"

"Of course not," he replied seriously. She wanted to believe him.

"L-lets say I b-beleive you," the managed, gulping. His eyes widened and they stopped dancing.

"Go on," Ikuto urged.

"W-what would you do, if I s-said that I... l-loved you, too?" She closed her eyes and cringed.

"I would be happier than I could ever remember being," he said.

"Then..." she was going to take the risk. He could be joking about the whole thing, simply toying with her, but she would say it anyway. After witnessing how he played with Jiji and sang with Yaya, she somehow doubted he was lying about this. "I love you, too."

Opening her eyes, Amu stared up at him. A shocked expression came over her face as she saw Ikuto smile. It was a genuine smile. Not a smirk. A real smile. He pulled her into his embrace.

"Amu-chan, may I kiss you?"

Now _that_ was unexpected. Not the fact that he wanted to kiss her, of course, but simply that he was asking for permission. Smiling, she nodded, and stood on her tiptoes to meet him.

* * *

It was in the early morning that everyone finally got to sleep. When they were exhausted from dancing, they'd all gone to the upstairs living room to watch a movie, and eventually, one by one, they fell asleep on the couches or on the ground.

The last day of the Million Dollar Bet had been exhausting. They were ready to go home.

**A/N: This isn't the end! There is one more chapter. Anyway, it's really late and I want to get this out, so I'm not going to bother proof-reading it. Please excuse any mistakes or lameness. I'm sorry that this chapter wasn't that funny.**

**Oh, and by the way, the song Kukai sang was "Must Have Done Something Right" by Relient K.**

**Please review!**

**Thank you!**

**~Talia Windwalker**


	23. Epilogue

**A/N: This is it: the last chapter.**

** I want to give a huge thanks to Shadow Host, for all the wonderful ideas she gave me.**

** I also would like to thank Shymaera and Aveyondstars, who participated in this more than you know. (proofreading, ideas, etc)**

** And, of course, to absolutely everyone who reviewed.**

** And to all my readers, even if you didn't review. You guys are the reason I even bothered writing this, and I gave up a lot of time I could be working on more important things because of you guys.**

** And lastly, to the old sitcom Gilligan's Island, which was what inspired me to write this fic in the first place.**

The Million Dollar Bet

Epilogue

"Who's going to take Jiji?" Yaya asked, stuffing an unreasonably large piece of danish in her mouth.

"I will," Ikuto said, as if it was obvious. Everyone looked at him in surprise.

"Ikuto-nii-san, are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Tadase. "You don't know how to take care of a dog."

"How hard could it be?"

"And even if someone else did take her, I bet she'd show up on our doorstep in a few days, anyway," said Utau.

"Maybe we'll get to find out who sent us the bet in the first place, now," Kukai changed the subject.

A few hours after breakfast, they were picked up. The whole ride to wherever it was they were going was spent discussing what each person would do with their money.

"Yaya wants to buy a hundred candy stores!"

"I don't think that's enough money for a hundred candy stores," Nagihiko pointed out.

"Yaya's only going to buy the candy, not the stores," she corrected herself.

"I'm going to get a copy of every gag manga there is," Rima said.

"I want to go on a trip," said Amu. "What are you going to do, Ikuto?"

"I don't know," he said, trying to keep the puppy on his lap from squirming too much. "I guess I'll get Jiji some dog food, so she's not eating table scraps."

"I'm going to go shopping," Utau decided.

And thus they went on dreaming up things they would buy with the money from the bet. Even the charas were fantasizing about it—they would surely get a share.

Finally, they arrived at a very familiar place, and everyone got out.

"Seiyo Elementary?" Kukai stated the obvious.

"Why are we here?" asked Tadase.

"I guess this is where we're meeting the anonymous person," said Amu.

They were led toward the royal garden.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Nagihiko muttered.

When they entered, it was to find none but Tsukasa sitting at the table. Everyone groaned, or did something to that extent.

"You're not the anonymous person, are you?" Ikuto asked hopefully.

"Yep, that's me." He pulled a bunch of papers out of nowhere and began looking through them.

"So where is the million dollars?" asked Rima. Tsukasa looked a slightly nervous.

"Well, about that..." he began.

Silence enveloped the room as the harsh glares of eight people fell on him.

"I used the million dollars to set up the house and such. So I guess you could say I was kidding about the money. But, in a sense, you lost."

"How did we loose?" Amu inquired.

"For one, you nearly blew up the kitchen."

"Nearly," Utau pointed out.

"Yes, but Tadase also got locked in a closet overnight."

"Who calls that disastrous? I call it a blessing," Ikuto smirked. Tadase looked hurt.

"And Utau and Kukai wasted a lot of water and flooded a good portion of the back yard."

"That's not exactly a disaster," Nagihiko said.

"Amu and Rima both lost their first kiss." Amu turned bright red, and Rima blushed a little bit, too.

"I didn't mind that at all," said the petite blond.

"And Amu didn't mind, either," Ikuto said. The pinkette glared at him.

"Yes, I did!"

"But you don't anymore," he wrapped his arms around her waist, and she blushed even harder. Jiji barked at them.

"Amu consumed a piece of cardboard," said Tsukasa, "How is that not disastrous?"

"How _is_ it disastrous?" Utau replied.

"And Yaya failed at making cookies."

"Definitely a disaster!" exclaimed Yaya.

"And she nearly burnt down the kitchen another time."

"Get to the point already," Utau was loosing her patience.

"Well, you guys half-lost. So you don't owe me anything, but I'm not giving you the million dollars."

Everyone began to speak at once, but Tsukasa interrupted them.

"_However_, the house is still there, and I have nothing to do with it. So every year, you are all welcome to come and stay at the house for two weeks at my expense."

In a way, it was better than the money.

**~Some-odd years later~**

Rima's amber eyes opened to meet a pair of brown ones, and she smiled slightly. "Morning, Purple-head," she said teasingly.

"How are you feeling, Rima-chan?" Nagihiko asked as he sat up. Rima did the same.

"Fine," she said, rolling her eyes.

"You know I have a good reason to be worried," he defended.

"Sure, but I'm not _that_ small. Everything will be alright. It hasn't even been that long."

"Here," he stood and lifted her princess-style off their bed, heading down the stairs and into the kitchen of the Fujisaki mansion.

"Nagi, you're being ridiculous."

"Is there something wrong with that?" he set her down and tilted her chin upwards.

"I guess not," she replied, standing on her tip-toes to kiss him.

At that moment, a maid walked into the room. Upon seeing this, she turned away and waited for them to finish before she addressed what she'd come for. All the maids in the mansion had grown accustomed to such.

She heard Rima speak and turned back around. "The mail," was all she said, setting some papers on the counter. Nagihiko picked them up and began to sort through them. One in specific caught his eye, and he set the rest aside as he opened it.

"Hey, Rima, look at this!"

She did so. It was the same piece of mail that they had been receiving every year for quite some time now.

_Hinamori Amu, Hotori Tadase, Fujisaki Nagihiko, Fujisaki Rima, Yuiki Yaya, Souma Kukai, Souma Utau, and Tsukiyomi Ikuto are all invited to stay at the Million Dollar Bet House for two weeks, all expenses paid by Tsukasa._

_ If you would like to come, be at the park on Sunday at 3:00 PM with your suitcases, ready to go._

_~Tsukasa_

"Yes!" Rima exclaimed, glomping her husband. "I knew it would be coming sometime soon."

"Next year that invitation list will have one more Fujisaki added to it," Nagihiko grinned happily.

"And instead of 'Hinamori Amu', it will say 'Tsukiyomi Amu'," Rima added.

The next two weeks would be full of old memories and new fun.

**A/N: That was lame. I really didn't know how to end it.**

** The reason I put "some-odd years later" rather than specifying anything is because I left it completely up to the reader to decide how old the characters were in this. So the amount of time depends on how old you imagined them to be. In my own mind, Amu's class was in highschool at the point the bet took place.**

** In case you didn't catch on, Rima is pregnant, and Amu and Ikuto are engaged.**

** Please review, even though this epilogue failed miserably.**


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